Do you ever wish you could go back and do something differently? Have you ever wished you could erase some of the events in your life or that you could fix the mistakes of your past?
There is a touching breakfast scene in the movie, Thirteen Going On Thirty, where Jennifer Garner asks her mother that very question.
“If you could have one do-over, anything in your life, what would it be?”
Surprisingly her mother answers, “Nothing.” She goes on to explain that although she made many mistakes in her life, she had no regrets about making them. Because if she hadn’t made them, she wouldn’t have learned how to make things right.
Many of us struggle to live fully in the present or even dare to dream of the future because the past keeps reminding us of all the mistakes and failures we’ve experienced. And the reality is we can’t go back. There are no do-overs. But what if? What if the past was only a test—an educational proving ground to allow us to learn what we needed for our future accomplishments? What if the past was purposed for us to live our best today?
It’s all about perspective. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep inside yourself, swim far inside yourself, so that you shall come back with self-respect. I learned something from that. Even if it’s something I did, I’ll never do that one again. Dive deep, swim far and come back with your own self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain, overlook the old and take you into the new.”
Recognize that you would not be the person you are today without the things that you may see as “regrets.” Cast a kind glance over your past. Everything that has happened to you has brought you to where you are right now. Embrace those “regrets” and forgive. Choose and express gratitude for the difficult things that have made you who you are today.
One of my favorite scriptures is found in Isaiah 43:18-19.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
I want to encourage and challenge you to keep your eyes forward and know that an amazing future lies ahead.
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