This morning when I did my laundry, I noticed my bra strap was hooked to a shirt when I moved clothes from washer to dryer. I remembered something my mom said just last week about hooking the bra strap together before washing the bra.
I’ve been doing laundry for, well, let’s say more years than some of you reading this have been around. In all that time I never knew this “trick” to keep the bra hooks from snagging other clothes. And it’s just plain common sense if you think about it.
I could regret all the ruined shirts, and beat myself up because I wasn’t smart enough to figure out something so simple and obvious before now. I can get upset every time I do laundry, remembering how long it took me to know this, and rehash the past. If only I would have learned this sooner!
Or, I can laugh at myself and change the way I wash bras in the future.
Too often in life we waste time regretting lots of little things we did that we “should have known better than” doing. I know this is a simple example, but, aren’t most regrets pointless? We can’t change what happened. Can’t turn back the clocks and get a do-over. Can’t take back the words we’ve spoken.
All we can change is the future. Sometimes the future includes an apology or correction of what we did. And sometimes we just need to let go and move on. Either way, if we’re not careful we can build more regrets by time wasted obsessing over past regrets. When we do, we miss the awesome new opportunities God brings us today.
Would have, could have, should have – all the “if only” phrases that rob us of joy today. Make a choice today to leave those condemning words behind. Your bright, regret-free future starts now!
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
