Regret is an interesting thing. There are things I regret doing, and other things I regret not doing. There are also things I regret that were done to me. Certainly, our regrets span the continuum from trivial to tragic. For example, when I go through old photos, there are more than a handful of hairstyles and hair colors I should have avoided. But also, in that box of old photos is a picture of a dear friend who died by suicide. I thought about her often the week before she died. I wanted to call her but decided to do it later.
Ultimately, regret is both gift and challenge. We make mistakes and we learn as we grow. We fall and we rise. It is all part of the abundant life that God desires for us. Our faith gives us a foundation based on God’s promise of transformation. Fortunately for us, Jesus is intimately aware of our human condition and offers us grace upon grace.
This message is excerpted from “The gift and challenge of having regret” by Angela T. Khabeb in the October 2018 Cafe online magazine.
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