Tip: You have the right to start over!
I love the opportunity to start over! Life and the universe are designed in such a way as to give us many fresh starts. Every morning the sun comes up to give us a new day. Each new month offers us a chance to start all over again. And, of course, at the end of each year we complete, the calendar rolls forward to award us 365 new opportunities.
Although this is a great concept on paper, it can be difficult to accept in reality. I know I am guilty of sometimes living in the past. During my senior year of high school, I think we only lost one football game all year but I have re-lived that loss many, many times. Since it happened over fifty years ago, it might be time to let it go! I think I have done that to some degree, but I must confess that occasionally it comes back to haunt me. Some of the people who were on my high school team have since passed away, so I guess it would be safe to say that the rest of us who are still living have a right to let that go and start over, while remembering many of the wonderful victories!
I know that may not be a very good example, but I am confident that everyone who is reading this Tip has something in their life that they regret. Each one of us would love a “do-over” concerning a relationship, a business, an investment or perhaps some other decision that we made. I don’t know about you, but I am going to accept the fact that I am a human being and I make mistakes. I also believe, with all my heart, that God is gracious and forgives us and allows us to learn from our mistakes. We should not live under condemnation, but rather under forgiveness, freedom and peace. That is not to say that we should deliberately do something wrong with the attitude that we can seek forgiveness about our actions later. There is a popular phrase that has been around for years that says, “It would be easier to get forgiveness than it will be to get permission.” Although that may be humorous, it really can be deadly. Having that philosophy will cause us to step out and do things that we truly believe are wrong at the outset but hope somehow that the consequences will magically disappear. They usually don’t.
Contrast that to the attitude of, “What I am about to do, I am doing with wisdom, counsel, good sense and experience and I am expecting to have a healthy, happy, productive outcome.” If that is your attitude and a mistake is made, I can assure you that you have the right to learn from that mistake and start over from there.
I am grateful for everything that has happened in my life – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Everything that has happened has made me the person I am today. And although I certainly am not perfect, I can see how my mistakes have put me in a position to be a much healthier and wiser person than I ever could have been had I stayed defeated or stuck in my failures. I love to begin again. It seems as though I do a lot of things over. Sometimes I think I am the “do-over king.” But, when I focus on beginning again, it feels like I am moving forward. I am no longer stuck at do-over. I have finally realized that things didn’t happen to me; they happened for me! If that is the case, then the purpose of what has happened to me has been to “bring to pass” the things of the past in order that there might be life, wellness and wholeness in the future.
It does no good to stay stuck. It does no good to beat ourselves up forever. How long will we continue to grieve about something that happened in the past over which we now have absolutely no control? It is time for a new beginning!
I trust that this year is becoming one of the best years of your life. I hope that you will start fresh, let go of the things that have hurt you or defeated you in the past, and begin again to build your life, your family, your finances, your health, and your future in a way that will bring the most amount of good to yourself and to those around you. I know that is my daily focus and goal.
Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes! What needs changing in your life this moment? Let go of the past and start over. Have the kind of life that you will be glad you lived!
Tip: You have the right to start over!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
