So I started reading this new book and it has put me in a very reflective state of mind. It is "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck. It the front flap of the book it poses the following question, "If you could change your life by reversing your biggest regrets, sorrows and mistakes. . . would you?" That is a really tough question. When I think about mistakes that I have made my heart feels deep sorrow that I had disappointed my Heavenly Father or hurt someone else. It reminds me of Alma the younger when he says his soul was wracked with sorrow for his sins. It causes my soul such pain to think of my mistakes. But then at the same time I am reminded that our purpose in life is to learn and grow from our experiences so that we can again come to know and return to a loving Father in Heaven. We are here to experience both joy and sorrow. Without the sorrow we could not truly know the joy. I pray that as I go through each day I might be able to gain a little more knowledge and learn from the mistakes I make so that each day I can progressively become more like the person I hope I can one day be. I know I will stumble along the way, that is inevitable, but I know that I have a loving Savior that knows my pains and sorrows and He will carry me through after I have done all that I can do. And I also know that if it were not for the mistakes I have made, I would not be who I am today. I am a culmination of the experiences I have had. My job is to learn from those experiences, to not repeat the mistakes and to keep the good and help it grow.
So to answer the question, as painful as it sometimes is, I would not change my life by reversing my sorrows and regrets. I just hope I can life in a way that I will have less and less of them.
2 comments:
That is such an interesting question. Good for me to hear because I am constantly looking back and wondering, "What if this..." or "What if that..." It is not good for the brain! Your post made me think of a quote from Elder Wirthlin's talk, "Come what may and love it." He says, "Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others."
If nothing else is learned from hard times and it is just that, something hard, at least we can walk away with a change in perspective and will have more love and empathy for our fellowmen.
This idea has been helping me a lot lately and actually makes me grateful for experiences that have been challenging.
Thanks for your post.
Cam and I are actually going to Glen Beck's performance called The Christmas Sweater on Dec. 1st. I don't know much about it-my mom just called and said we should get tickets. That makes me excited!
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