People often tell us to "live live with no regrets". At first this sounded like a great mantra to me. To be able to make decisions that leave me happy and never worrying about something in the past sounded pleasant. But then reality hit. In order to live life without regrets, we would have to make every choice perfectly. In other words, we would have to be perfect people. Since that isn't possible, it left me wondering if we can actually live life with no regrets. Dieter F. Ucthorf gave a talk entitled "Of Regrets and Resolutions". (October 2012) In it he shared the most commons regrets people have as they near the end of their life. Not surprisingly they involved not spending enough time with the people they love, living up to their potential, and letting themselves be happier. I would think these are all common goals we share around the world. Yet because of distractions, the daily pressures in life, and Satan's constant attack on our outlook and attitudes, we may end up feeling like we didn't quite dedicate ourselves fully to these priorities in life. Pres. Uchtdorf reminds us to set resolutions and be committed to these ideals. We can resolve to spend more time with loved ones, resolve to be more earnest in our endeavors to live up to our potential, and resolve to seek to find happiness no matter what our circumstances are in life.
That brought me back to trying to live life perfectly. Again, since we can't live a life free from error, how do we find a way to not experience regrets when we do make mistakes? Regret is a symptom of wrong-doing. If we take away regret, do we become desensitized to the pain of sin? Some people try to convince themselves that they don't feel bad for past errors, or they even try to artificially remove regret through drugs and other addictive behaviors. However, iIn my belief, I think the only true way to remove regret from our lives is to repent through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Pres. Uchtdorf testified, "It is my testimony that many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today. If we have sinned or made mistakes—if we have made choices that we now regret—there is the precious gift of Christ’s Atonement, through which we can be forgiven. We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the burden of our sins. His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better."
Thus living a life without regret is two-fold. First we try to follow the Savior as we make decisions, knowing that His way is the way of happiness and true joy. If we were to follow Him and be like Him, we would indeed have a life with no regrets. The second part, though, is that when we do make mistakes (and we all will), the Savior can remove that regret as we fully repent , and He will help us move forward with new resolve. In this manner, regrets become lessons learned so that we won't make the same mistake again.
We're nearing the end of our thirty day thrive challenge. Can I look back with no regrets? Not unless I apply the healing power of the Atonement in my life to turn my mistakes into lessons and my regrets into firm resolve to follow Christ. I know I've made many mistakes in the last month. However, I also know that each day as I kneel in prayer, I can review the day and turn my regrets over to Jesus Christ as I repent and reaffirm my commitment to follow Him. In following Him, I can thrive and try to have a life lived with no regrets.
That brought me back to trying to live life perfectly. Again, since we can't live a life free from error, how do we find a way to not experience regrets when we do make mistakes? Regret is a symptom of wrong-doing. If we take away regret, do we become desensitized to the pain of sin? Some people try to convince themselves that they don't feel bad for past errors, or they even try to artificially remove regret through drugs and other addictive behaviors. However, iIn my belief, I think the only true way to remove regret from our lives is to repent through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Pres. Uchtdorf testified, "It is my testimony that many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today. If we have sinned or made mistakes—if we have made choices that we now regret—there is the precious gift of Christ’s Atonement, through which we can be forgiven. We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the burden of our sins. His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better."
Thus living a life without regret is two-fold. First we try to follow the Savior as we make decisions, knowing that His way is the way of happiness and true joy. If we were to follow Him and be like Him, we would indeed have a life with no regrets. The second part, though, is that when we do make mistakes (and we all will), the Savior can remove that regret as we fully repent , and He will help us move forward with new resolve. In this manner, regrets become lessons learned so that we won't make the same mistake again.
We're nearing the end of our thirty day thrive challenge. Can I look back with no regrets? Not unless I apply the healing power of the Atonement in my life to turn my mistakes into lessons and my regrets into firm resolve to follow Christ. I know I've made many mistakes in the last month. However, I also know that each day as I kneel in prayer, I can review the day and turn my regrets over to Jesus Christ as I repent and reaffirm my commitment to follow Him. In following Him, I can thrive and try to have a life lived with no regrets.