Regrets

What I want to talk about today is the word “regrets”. It is unfortunately, a word to which you cannot return. It is also a word that haunts us sometimes for a long, long time.

We lost our second son at the end of August in 2020. It happened suddenly and was something that was not in our minds at all. Perhaps it should have been. He had not been well, but it just was something that we did not anticipate.

The problem is that our world was soon crowded with regrets. Regrets that we hadn’t gone fishing. Regrets that we hadn’t been nicer. And worst of all, regret that we hadn’t said things that really should have been said or at least didn’t say them enough. Things like, “You really ARE a good person”, “You are a person of value because you are YOU”, and “I love you Josh”.

Don’t get caught with regrets. None of us have any guarantee of tomorrow. Do not leave anything undone or unsaid. Go fishing with your son. Go to a rodeo with your kids. Go shopping with your daughter. And tell them. Tell them you are thrilled that they belong to you, that he or she or both have given you the privilege of having them. Tell them that you love them.

This is true of parents and children, children to parents, siblings, grandparents and even friends and people we know.

If you have regrets, leave them behind. Ask forgiveness, even of people who have passed. Let the burden of regret go. It is a load none of us needs to carry and is one that can be shed and left behind. Then you can build a future that does not have those regrets. At least not many.