From Here On…

It seems that there are always some regrets in the living of life. No matter what decisions we make or fail to make, we are likely to wonder what would have happened if we had done differently; and often we are likely to feel sure that we should have done differently. Being human, as we all are, we make mistakes. To some extent, at least, most of us are feeling and fumbling our way; and perhaps there is almost no day that we couldn’t look back upon and wish to improve. There is perhaps almost no day that we couldn’t wish we hadn’t said some things we have said, that we hadn’t thought some things we have thought, or that we hadn’t done some things better than we did. Life, it seems, is in part a process of repentance. In a sense, progress itself is a process of repentance; and the man who thinks he doesn’t make mistakes is deceiving himself. Individually, collectively, privately, publicly, there is no doubt we have made many mistakes, and our problems and debts and difficulties, our regrets and serious uncertainties are in part a payment for the mistakes of the past. There is no use denying them, when we know we have made them. The future will be more as we would want it to be if we admit our mistakes and repent and improve and not persistently say there weren’t any errors, and not doggedly pursue the same path and pattern. We pay the penalties sooner or later. As Emerson observed: “Always pay, for first or last you must pay every debt.” And the sooner we repent, the lighter is the compounding of the penalties. Having admitted our mistakes, having sincerely repented of the past, there remains an incentive to look forward from here, with hope, and with faith for the future. If there is anything we deeply regret, from here on is our opportunity—for great is the power of repentance.