As the pain of regret gives way to the meaning of hope

Perhaps we’ve all been there. That place of circumstance and being where all before us and all behind us is tainted with the pain of regret.

It could be something we’ve done. Equally, something we should have done. Maybe something we shouldn’t have done, or just as likely major regret for not getting out of the way sooner. And, oh, the taste of regret when we’re innocently sidelined, harassed, persecuted, maligned, rejected or disposed of.

Even in loss there are massive fragments of regret that impact on us at different times, for different reasons, where retrospect is a frame for what should have been.

And then there is the inevitable present moment that lingers on the palate of experience. That which ushers forth a future that as yet remains largely unwritten.

The present moment is pregnant with possibility and it may give birth serendipitously or with great difficulty. It may bring forth a beautiful child called Hope, or it might engender instant sorrow as we cast our eye more over what was than what could be. This ‘child’ could brighten the mind, or it could depress the heart. And such a life could bring such enormous joy in its being, or it could be a bane to all in society, with all possibilities in play at the genesis of this one life.

The inevitable opportunity awaits us all in the season of regret.

Will we look around and kick the ground of those digs, continue in our self-disgust, or insist on hurting ‘the other’ when they don’t even know we’re camped there? Will we make that existence a prolonged reality? Will we show to one and all the power of pitying oneself over the power of picking oneself up?

Would we consider for a moment that life’s course has been reset? Could we visualise the setting of a certain sun for the rising of a new one once night is over?

Regret is painful. It preoccupies our mind for what dominates our heart. Those feelings are insurmountable. They sing a dirge that will reckon to a beautifully sensitive person their portion of grief. There is a journey in regret. But sense in that journey that there is a point where we make our departure from self-sabotage.

As the pain of regret gives way to the meaning of hope we sense that the war is over, and peace has once again returned to our heart.

We must be prepared to do what we can do. We must be prepared to forgive ourselves, and part of that will mean, to move on, we’ll need to forgive moments of indecision, folly, impetuosity, fear, silence, apathy, reluctance, and freezing, fleeing, and fighting.

As we move past the shame of self-disgust, we may sense that forgiving ourselves corresponds with our willingness to learn. In sensing that a fresh-fire beginning comes when the end has come, hope brightens in knowing that something can yet be done.

Amazingly, all of ‘this’ can be reconciled. Not to undo what has been done, but a doing now of what can now be done.

There’s no wisdom and nothing to be gained in holding onto regret with grim resolve. Instead, raise the blinds, throw open the curtains, and allow the Son to shine on in!

Photo by Ron Smith on Unsplash