Handling Regrets

It was gone. Now, I had to learn a lesson about handling regrets.

I thought about my now-gone treasure early one morning when a co-worker asked, "Have you ever regretted getting rid of something?"

I love antiques and have since I was young. No one else in my immediate family seemed to appreciate them, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with them. So, as my extended family members aged and wanted to pass along some of their belongings, I snatched them up.

Among my treasures was a pocket watch that had belonged to my maternal grandfather, Pappy. The story about how he came to own it was that he offered the owner a .22 rifle in exchange, and the man accepted. From then on, Pappy proudly hung it daily from every pair of Dickie pants that he wore. He knew that I loved the watch. I didn't know it until after he died, but he had told my grandmother to give it to me. I was ecstatic. Mom bought me a small watch display case, and in every house that I lived in, I proudly displayed the treasure.

At one point, my wife and I opened an antique store in our home. Of course, we had many things that we marked NFS — not for sale — including Pappy's watch. But one customer wanted it. I resisted his offer initially, but, in a moment of stupidity, I agreed to sell it. I've regretted it ever since. I didn't know the customer's residence or name, so I could never contact him to offer to purchase it back.

Isaiah 43:18 – But forget all that — it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. (NLT)

I suppose that many Israelites regretted their wayward ways that led God's people into two exiles: first in the wilderness for 40 years after leaving Egypt, and later, 70 years in Babylon. But God told them to forget all about that misery. He had something better for them in the future.

My mom sees many items at thrift or antique stores that she had once sold at a yard sale. Like her and me, no doubt, all of us have regrets: bad choices that we made, relationships that we entered or ended, places that we left behind, things that we bought or sold, sins that we committed, people we hurt, times when we didn't obey what God wanted, opportunities that we let slip by.

Reflecting on such times is healthy. We can think of the lessons that we've learned. But we shouldn't live in that regret. Doing so will keep us from moving forward in relationships — with family, friends, and even God — and we'll find ourselves mentally and emotionally trapped.

I made a bad decision to sell a treasured family heirloom. I learned from it.

What essential life lessons have you learned from your regrets?

Prayer: Father, help us to learn from our regrets but not to live in them. Amen.

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