Living with No Regrets

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Lately, I’ve been thinking what’s the key to living with no regrets. I would love for this year to be marked by triumphs and victories in Jesus. When I get to the end of 2016, the last thing I want to do is look back in any kind of regret. I want to look back and see that I lived the year to the best of my ability. I want to learn what it means to live without regrets.

I’m finding this means that I need to slow down and evaluate what’s really important. I can honestly say that I’ve never regretted slowing down to hug my 2 year old when he says, “hug mommy”. Those two words melt my heart every time. Even when it’s late at night and I would love my son to just fall asleep. His little mind looks for ways to prolong the bed time process. And the last few words of the night tend to be, “rock mommy and hug mommy”. This means I slow down to rock my son in the rocking chair and love him just a little more before he heads to bed. It means that even though I’m wiped out and looking forward to a little rest, I still stop to get one more hug. And at night when my baby cries just to be comforted, it means getting my weary butt out of bed to hold him and love on him.

The times in life that I’ve regretted most are the times that I didn’t maximize my moments. There are days I spent wasted thoughts thinking about the next day instead of living out the present day. I find that regret easily sets in when I have gotten too busy to finish today well and have started thinking about tomorrow. I regret less and less when I slow down and appreciate today for what it is.

Everything doesn’t tend to get done on my list. In fact, I go to bed with plenty of things on my mind that I still wanted to get done. But instead of dwelling on this, I’ve started to dwell on what did get done. What did God give me the opportunity to be a part of during the day? I stop to reflect every night on what God gave me in that day. I’m doing my best to train my mind to celebrate every small detail that went right, every moment that was beautiful, and all the little things that got accomplished. I find this helps me live with no regrets.

Satan loves to keep us in regret mode because it hinders us from moving forward. I’m finding that there are several keys to living with no regrets.

Keys to Living with No Regrets

1. Focus on what you can finish today not on what you can accomplish tomorrow.
2. Dwell on all the good things and lay the not so good things at Jesus feet.
3. Reach out to the person that comes to mind during the day even if it’s a small text.
4. Forgive quickly.
5. Spend more time with Jesus than anyone else in your day. This doesn’t mean you have to be in your Bible all day long, but it does mean that you hide God’s Word in your heart so you can dwell on it all throughout your day.
6. Spend more time in prayer than complaining.
7. Show grace to others. That’s what you would want them to show you!
8. Embrace the moment you are in and live it to the fullest. Remember nothing bad lasts forever, but neither does something good last forever. Enjoy every moment that comes and don’t be distracted by moments that don’t exist yet.
9. Spend less time on your phone and more time making eye contact, listening intently to someone, sharing your life over coffee instead of social media, and using your testimony to glorify God in every conversation.
10. Laugh as often as possible and live in the joy of the Lord!

Dear Father God, I pray that this year I will spend more time celebrating who you are and what you have done in my life then focusing on what isn’t happening. Lord, may this be a year of living with no regrets. May this year mark a year of growth for me. May I spend more time with my eyes fixed on Jesus and the things that carry an eternal value.

Living with No Regrets,