Moving Beyond the Past

If you are like me at least once you've walked out the door of your house and come to the realization that you have your hands full of all sorts of things to bring with you, but you've forgotten to pick up the keys to your car. It doesn't matter how much you've brought along with you, none of us get anywhere fast without having the proper set of keys.

Moving beyond our regrets functions much the same way. Many of us attempt to grapple with our regrets, we even have our hands full of them, but without the right keys we will never be able to embrace the future we so desire to have.

Here are a couple of keys to moving beyond regret:
1. Healing Your Past Hurts.
2. Making Restitution.

Healing is most often a process. It takes time and intention. Most importantly it takes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. For some of us one of the tools the Holy Spirit might want to use is the assistance of a counselor. If you need this kind of assistance let me know I'd be happy to refer you to someone equipped to help you in the process of healing your past hurts.

Restitution is the process of going back and making things right. If we have wronged someone it is important for us to acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness. I realize that sometimes this is easier said than done, but it doesn't mean that it isn't worth doing. Once again, the Holy Spirit can help give you the power for this task.

Questions to Reflect Upon:
1. Where have you seen regret and guilt keep you from being fully present in life?
2. Where do you hurt? How do you handle this hurt?
3. What specific situations and relationships can you restore?
4. What are some concrete steps you can take toward healing your hurts and making restitution?

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

I find that past regrets is a subject I end up discussing with people quite often. For many of us it is difficult to learn from our past and move forward as we press on in faith. More often we replay the tapes of past circumstances over and over again in the back of our minds as we search for a way to reconcile the past with our present.

Will Rogers was once quoted as saying, "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." Something about Rogers' statement rings true for those who struggle with regret. Left unattended our regrets wind up eating the energy we need to live life today.

What events from "yesterday" do you find using up your "today"? What would it mean for you to allow God to be the Lord of your past as well as your present and future?

How Can I Ever Change?

In terms of life's difficult questions, "How Can I Ever Change?" may be one of the toughest for us to grapple with in life. Transformation is something we long for, but the pathway to change is often difficult and time consuming. The story of Jacob from Genesis chapter 32 gives us hope that true change is possilble when we allow God to transform us through his power and with our cooperation.

Here are a few questions to think about when it comes to the prospect of change in our lives:

• Do I really want to do what it takes to change or do I just like the idea of change?
• What would it mean for me to start cooperating with God?
• What is one step I could take today that would move me toward change?

Another School Year Completed

Children all over Orange County are celebrating the fact that today marks the end of another school year. 2008-2009 is officially in the record books. Last night I attended the "Night of Excellence" at my daughter's school. Aftewards at the reception I was thanking one of her teachers when he responded to me by saying, "No, thank you for sending us great students." Of course I like to hear that kind of a thing as a father, but I was especially struck by the fact that my thanks was returned with his gratitude. All of this got me to thinking. I want to stop and give thanks to God for bringing the school year to completion. Here are a few of things I'm thankful for:

• Teachers who invest themselves in their students and for whom teaching is more than just a job, but a calling. The world could use more people with such a passion. I admire you.
• Wisdom gained, achievements accomplished, challenges met and lessons learned.
• Parents, community members and volunteers who give of themselves to enhance our schools.
• Principals, administrators and staff who lead our schools in both good times and bad. Something tells me that many of their countless hours are spent problem solving and managing people who aren't always happy.
• Our school board members who even though I don't agree with them some of the time are willing to step up to the plate and serve our community in what is quite often a thankless job.

This isn't to say that I don't have a list of complaints about things that happened this past school year because I do. I will not take the time to detail them for you. I don't think there would be much value in sharing them. Besides once I list the things I'm grateful for it has a way of making my complaints seem much smaller than they did before I began writing this blog post.

What about you? Anything you are grateful for that you want to take the time to acknowledge? Post a comment.