The Vision of No Regrets

God gives us life as a test of our resolve to discover that which he has set our hearts on. Do we want to reach heaven to be shown what we didn’t embrace? Can we bear such regret?

We can know we are missing something of our purpose whenever we settle for languishing in stagnation of spirit—when we willingly reside in boredom or, paradoxically, busyness.

Boredom and Busyness – Bridging Both Regrets

Not many people admit to boredom nowadays. By far, people are keenly interested—typically from a work perspective—in letting everyone know how busy they are. People hiding behind their workload are usually those most adept at hiding from work; for any number of reasons. Boredom ensues. This is sometimes from fear, other times from laziness or lack of direction.

Boredom, though, is an activator for regret.

Likewise, busyness is just as common a problem. Those incredibly busy souls just trying to keep up in the world battle against a hopeless situation; try as they might they cannot get all the things done they need to and still sleep and find time for exercise. There is always a time debt to pay. Where they are destined is burnout, if their sense of busyness can’t be reconciled in time.

Busyness, like boredom, is an activator for regret.

Both prevent access to the vision of no regrets, because both send us down a rabbit warren of purposelessness.

A Better, Most Achievable, Vision

The key performance indicator of life, the one that really matters, is the legacy we leave in the history of our deeds—that which is recounted in eternity.

What we got away with in this life—the many lies we told (and none should lie that we don’t)—will no longer be the case on arrival at our eternal dwelling. All things will be brought out into the light. This will be for accounted reconciliation—between God and us, as persons. Suddenly, we’re on real terms, and, for the first time; now, for all time (if we can consider using the word “time” for the eternal context).

This is nothing to be afraid of, if we believe in grace, and freedom from condemnation in the name of Jesus, but it’s equally an opportunity to amend, before time, those things we might otherwise regret.

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Could there be anything sadder than reaching eternity and having regret for what we didn’t do, let alone what we did? Whilst there are sure to be some regrets, best are we to seek God’s heart on the matter, praying day by day for knowledge of his will, and the power to do just that.

We’re not afraid in this; we believe that God speaks into our hearts in ways only we can understand (though trusted others might confirm).

So far as regrets are concerned, forget about the past; focus on the present in building a better future one decision at a time. We are forgiven for our pasts, particularly as we learn from them. The vision of no regrets is doing the best we can, with what we have, now.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.