Regretting 2014

regret

As we start pulling down the calendars and getting ready to launch into a brand new year, I’m wondering if 2014 will be a year of regret for you.

No Regrets

Some people say that they have absolutely no regrets in life. I consider that to be foolish. It’s foolish not to learn from our mistakes and while mistakes can help to shape us and move us forward, not to feel some regret when we get it wrong is a waste of opportunity.

Having said that, I’m not a person with huge regrets. I don’t regret my ‘big picture’ life decisions but I do regret some of my actions. I regret sometimes being impatient or showing intolerance towards some people when I should be displaying grace. I regret not achieving a greater level of self-discipline in some areas of life.

Even after over half a lifetime I’m still learning and hopefully I’ll continue to turn my regrets into opportunity for improvement.

Lingering Regret

Unfortunately some people get stuck with their regrets. They let regret hold them down rather than dealing with issues and moving forward. Regrets can be helpful if they trigger change and help us to move on but many people refuse to take the next step and they live a life of regret. That regret becomes more and more toxic and robs them of the joy of everyday life. There needs to be a time to let go of regret.

On this final day of 2014 will you be dealing with the regrets of the past twelve months? Will you be letting them go so that you can start 2015 with a clean slate?

Dealing with Regret

There is a way to deal with the regret we feel. We can allow regret to remind us that we haven’t reached the standard we should have reached and then to push us in the right direction.

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. – 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

I love the fact that the story of the gospel is that the past can be over. We can settle the account with God and then move on. Not because it doesn’t matter but because God is always ready to forgive if we’re willing to put our hand up and admit that we got it wrong. Other people might like to remind us of the times we get it wrong but God wants to move on without counting our failures against us.

Big Picture Regrets

Some of the worst regrets are those that come from our ‘big picture’ life choices. Career choices, relationship choices and a variety of other decisions that shape our lives can lead to fulfillment or a deep sense of regret in our later years. You may be many years or even decades away from your autumn years now, but it’s the choices you make now that will shape the way you think back on your life when that time comes. If you want to reflect on memories of a life well lived you need to live well now.

Taking Risks

I love the fact that once we’ve accepted the forgiveness that our creator offers and our regrets are sorted we can feel free to move ahead in confidence. That’s when we can start to take risks. Not silly or reckless risks but the kind of considered risks that come from knowing that the one who put the universe together has got our back.

2014 saw me bring up a full year in my ‘new’ job. I’ve seen the risk I took late in 2013, to leave a comfortable long-term job, lead to me being able to play a small part in releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

What risks will you take in 2015? Will you dare to explore, dream and discover?

My hope for you in 2015 is that you are able to deal with anything in the past that is holding you back and that you’ll be able to fully launch yourself into a big year with big dreams and live a big life.

(This post is an updated version of a post from last year.)



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Is ‘Happy’ the Best You’ve Got?

2014

Over the last few days there’s every chance you’ve been exchanging the customary greeting of “Happy New Year” with anyone who happens to cross your path. Even while you’ve been trying to grab a bargain at all the post-Christmas sales you’ve probably had complete strangers not only hurriedly scanning your discounted items from the other side of the counter, but wishing you happiness for the next twelve months. But is happiness what it’s really all about?

Of course I want to wish you a happy new year but I don’t want it to end there. I want more for you than happiness as you launch into 2014.

Happiness comes and goes and we all know that you’re not going to sail through 2014 with a smile on your face the whole time. There will be struggles and disappointments. I’m not wishing you difficulties but I’ve been on this planet long enough to know that each year will bring a mixture of good and bad. Sometimes there’ll also be extreme highs and devastating lows. With that in mind my wish for you goes deeper.

I wish you joy for 2014.

Joy is different than happiness. It’s more. It’s not so dependent on circumstances. There’s a strength in joy that goes beyond the happy times. It’s a confidence that no matter we’re facing, we can go on.

I wish love for you in 2014.

Love means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. We’ve all been let down, even by those closest to us. That’s not the kind of love I’m talking about. The kind of love I wish for you in 2014 is a deep, abiding love that never changes, leaves or disappoints. That’s the kind of love we need during the tough days in 2014.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

I wish grace for you in 2014.

What is grace? It’s been describes as undeserved favour but there’s more to it than that.

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it. It is an actual power from God that acts and makes good things happen in us and for us.

God’s grace was God’s acting in Paul to make Paul work hard. So when Paul says, “Work out your salvation,” he adds, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Grace is power from God to do good things in us and for us. – John Piper

There are many other things I could wish for you in 2014 like hope, peace, strength and wisdom but I’d be interested to know what you’d like to wish for others as we begin a new year. Leave your thoughts in the comments section of this post.



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Wondering about 2014

2014

In all the busyness of this time of year have you managed to set time aside to draft out a few New Year’s resolutions?

Maybe you’ll get some time over the next couple of days. I’m hoping to find time to think about what the brand new year might bring.

While many people don’t believe in making resolutions I reckon that any time that we can sit down and take stock of our lives and make plans for the time ahead is time well spent.

As with every year I’m sure that many will set all the usual resolutions about losing weight, getting fitter, quitting smoking, reducing debt, increasing income and all the rest but I wonder what 2014 would look like if we made resolutions and goals about improving relationships with those close to us and then asked those people, or others, for help in staying accountable to those goals.

I wonder how things would be if we made resolutions about helping those we may not even know but who need a hand up. What if we made 2014 the year that we would seek to more fully understand the deep needs of others and then partner with them in a way that would move us all a little closer to what we were designed to become?

How would 2014 shape up if we determined that family was more important than the demands of work and then structured our schedules accordingly?

What would it be like if we decided that 2014 was the year that we would look beyond the physical and material things of this world to discover deeper spiritual meaning?

I wonder.



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Will you regret 2013?

regret

As we start pulling down the calendars and getting ready to launch into a brand new year, I’m wondering if 2013 will be a year of regret for you.

No Regrets

Some people say that they have absolutely no regrets in life. I consider that to be foolish. It’s foolish not to learn from our mistakes and while mistakes can help to shape us and move us forward, not to feel some regret when we get it wrong is a waste of opportunity.

Having said that, I’m not a person with huge regrets. I don’t regret my ‘big picture’ life decisions but I do regret some of my actions. I regret sometimes being impatient or showing intolerance towards some people when I should be displaying grace. I regret not achieving a greater level of self-discipline in some areas of life.

Even after over half a lifetime I’m still learning and hopefully I’ll continue to turn my regrets into opportunity for improvement.

Lingering Regret

Unfortunately some people get stuck with their regrets. They let regret hold them down rather than dealing with issues and moving forward. Regrets can be helpful if they trigger change and help us to move on but many people refuse to take the next step and they live a life of regret. That regret becomes more and more toxic and robs them of the joy of everyday life. There needs to be a time to let go of regret.

In the final days of 2013 will you be dealing with the regrets of the past twelve months? Will you be letting them go so that you can start 2014 with a clean slate?

Dealing with Regret

There is a way to deal with the regret we feel. We can allow regret to remind us that we haven’t reached the standard we should have reached and then to push us in the right direction.

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. – 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

I love the fact that the story of the gospel is that the past can be over. We can settle the account with God and then move on. Not because it doesn’t matter but because God is always ready to forgive if we’re willing to put our hand up and admit that we got it wrong. Other people might like to remind us of the times we get it wrong but God wants to move on without counting our failures against us.

Big Picture Regrets

Some of the worst regrets are those that come from our ‘big picture’ life choices. Career choices, relationship choices and a variety of other decisions that shape our lives can lead to fulfilment or a deep sense of regret in our later years. You may be many years or even decades away from your autumn years now, but it’s the choices you make now that will shape the way you think back on your life when that time comes. If you want to reflect on memories of a life well lived you need to live well now.

Taking Risks

I love the fact that once we’ve accepted the forgiveness that our creator offers and our regrets are sorted we can feel free to move ahead in confidence. That’s when we can start to take risks. Not silly or reckless risks but the kind of considered risks that come from knowing that the one who put the universe together has got our back.

2013 was the year I stepped away from what was comfortable into a new job. Now I’m looking forward to seeing that risk pay off in 2014 as I play a small part in releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

What risks will you take in 2014? Will you dare to explore, dream and discover?

My hope for you in 2014 is that you are able to deal with anything in the past that is holding you back and that you’ll be able to fully launch yourself into a big year with big dreams and live a big life.



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2013 – I Wonder

2013

In all the busyness of this time of year have you managed to set time aside to draft out a few New Year’s resolutions?

Maybe you’ll get some time over the next couple of days. I’m hoping to get something together before the year moves on too far. I’ve got a few areas of life where I want to see change or growth and I have most of the ideas of what they’ll look like in in my head. I simply need to commit them to paper … er … computer.

While many people don’t believe in such things I reckon that any time we can sit down and take stock of our lives and make plans for the time ahead is time well spent.

As with every year I’m sure that many will set all the usual resolutions about losing weight, getting fitter, quitting smoking, reducing debt and all the rest but I wonder what 2013 would look like if we made resolutions and goals about improving relationships with those close to us and then asked those people, or others, for help in staying accountable to those goals.

I wonder how things would be if we made resolutions about helping those we may not even know but who need a hand up.

How would 2013 shape up if we determined that family was more important than the demands of work and then structured our schedules accordingly?

What would it be like if we decided that 2013 was the year that we would look beyond the physical and material things of this world to discover deeper spiritual meaning?

I wonder.



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