Don't Look Back??

"Don't mourn bad decisions-overcome them with good ones." Joyce Meyer


The quote above caught my attention today as I perused Facebook. Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to past mistakes and bad decisions in my life that I am not proud to own. Some of those events are very painful and frightening for me.

Just last week as I was driving out to spend some time with Bobby, I was riding along listening to music and was just thanking God for all the joy and good things in my life. Sometimes my heart just overflows with happiness when I realize all the blessings I have.

I don't have a fancy car or a palatial home, but I have what really matters. I have love in my life....my wonderful sons, my devoted fiance' and a little dog who worships the ground I walk on. I have a warm, safe home...even if it is slightly crooked....I think it has character! I have relatively good health even as my body winds its way toward the big five-o. I am able to provide my family with good food and we don't go hungry. I have heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. We all have clothes to wear and shoes to help us walk through life.

The next day I heard the song, "Don't Look Back", by the band Boston. It reminded me of the times when regretful thoughts and reminders of past mistakes sneak into taunt me. Sometimes it can be so painful to realize how foolish I was in the past. One dark memory leads to another and before I know it, I'm wondering if I really am the good person I believe myself to be. It can be a dark spiral into a terrible place if I let it. But being a believer in God helps me to turn to Him at those times. I ask Him to remove the thoughts from my mind. I am also reminded that I have been forgiven of those mistakes; sins, if you are a believer. According to God, they never happened because I asked His forgiveness at some point in my life. What a comfort to know that He isn't dwelling on those things in my past, even if I tend to let them creep in to try to chip away at my happiness. As I write this, reminders of bad decisions still try to flood my mind.

We've all made bad decisions in our lives. It's part of being human. We can't do anything about them and dwelling on them will only bring us down. We move on and make better decisions as we go along in life. We cannot change our past, but we surely and thankfully can learn from those past bad decisions.

Life is not easy, it was never promised to be. But I can be thankful that I have more love and good things in my life than I do regrets. So look back. Learn from the past. But then, for goodness sake, look ahead....to all the possibilities the future holds. Look forward!!