Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Yep, it's my opinion...

Someone asked me what you need to do in your life so that you don't have regrets on your deathbed.

I think that we all make mistakes.  In fact, I don't know anyone who hasn't done or said something that they seriously regret.  Most of us make mistakes every day in some shape or form.

Some people, and I truly believe this, don't care who they hurt by their words or actions.  They never say I'm sorry (at least not to me) and act as if they're better than everyone else.  Those people will have to think about their mistakes as their lives come to a close.  Personally, I think we're all equal in God's eyes.

We have to redeem ourselves.  We apologize.  We go the extra mile for those we've hurt unintentionally, and we know when that happens.  We have to understand that everyone walks in the same shoes we walk in.  And even if those we hurt don't accept our sincere apology, we know that God is aware of our contrition and we can move forward.

As our lives go on, we can look back at what we've done, and hopefully, we can honestly say that during those bad times of actions or words, that we've done everything we can to mend the fences that we've broken.

We ask God for forgiveness.  In my church, we do it publicly every Sunday.  We ask God to forgive us our transgressions.  Every day, in my personal life, I pray that if I've hurt anyone, that I can find a way to fix it, or at least say that I'm sorry.  I try to be aware of what I say and do, but honestly, sometimes we speak before our brains are engaged.  Those are the rough times and sometimes those words are hard to take back.  We have to pray that we can make those we've hurt understand that we're sorry, and mean it.

Ask God for forgiveness, and MEAN it when you ask.  MEAN it when you say you're sorry.  MEAN it when you do something you regret and find a way to make it right.  If we do those things, when our lives end we won't have anything to regret.

And it's just my opinion...

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