No Regrets

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 

I preached a funeral not too long ago.  We went to the cemetery which was older but nicely kept. I cannot recall what was inscribed on most of the tombstones but I do remember one inscription:

Mary Fisher
1845 – 1873
Deeply Regretted

I don’t know who Mary Fisher was. For me her entire life is contained in the dash between those two numbers: Regretted.  I have no clue how she died.  I only knew in that moment that I did not want that epitaph on my grave. I did not want my name and then the words “deeply regretted” tagged onto the end. 

Imagine having your entire life summed up by the words: “deeply regretted”?
Not intensely loved. Not dearly beloved or greatly missed. Not enthusiastically lived. Not loved by many or even No Regrets.  But deeply regretted.

I walked away from that funeral asking the same question over and over.  How to live and not regret?  So much in our lives steals and destroys.  So much can make us live with regret.  But Jesus didn't come for us to live with regrets.  Jesus came that we might have life: life to the full. 

Allowing ourselves to dwell on regrets steals from the life Jesus came to give us.
If we do want to live fully, without regrets, we have to believe that Jesus has come to give us new life. We have to look at the mistakes we've made, accept the consequences and find a way to bring life back into them. 

Maybe this means apologizing, or telling someone you love them or trying something you fear. Perhaps living without regret means sacrificing something you love or finding a way to shake a habit or radically changing your life or forgiving someone who hurt you. 

Perhaps the best way to live without regret is not doing something we might regret.  I don't know if there is something you regret.  But if there is, God can fix it.  Don't allow regret to steal the life He has given you.

One area in life we might regret is letting others slip out of our life.  Chicago, a great band from my high school days, sang "You don't know what you've got until it's gone, and I found out a little too late."  It's easy sometimes to grow apart and it gets easier. 

Live your life to the full!  Don't let regret control you.  If you regret something said or done, ask for forgiveness.  If you regret how you treated someone, mend the relationship.  I know you are young, not thinking about your tombstone, but don't let your marker say, "Deeply Regretted"