Do you have any regrets?

[christcnection1]

Do you have any regrets? Should we have regrets?

 

[Belle10]

Yes, I have regrets. However, since I’ve confessed the sins causing those regrets, I really need to let them go, just as Jesus has.

I think it’s natural as humans to have regrets, but we need to work on trusting in God’s amazing love and mercy so we can let them go.

 

[b_justb]

Do you have any regrets?

Yes, a lot. I regret straying from the Church. I regret getting involved with the person whose union I had annulled. I regret many things from my youth and the way it adversely affected my relationship with my parents. I could go on for a while here …

Should we have regrets?

No we shouldn’t. But if you don’t I rekon your name might be Mary

 

[christcnection1]

I find it interesting when people say they don’t have any regrets. What does this imply? …they never made any mistakes? …they wouldn’t do anything differently?

I find this hard to believe. Certainly we can learn from our mistakes and be better people for having gone through the darkness, but this doesn’t mean we should not have done some things differently in the first place.

 

[baltobetsy]

One of the only Bible verses I know by chapter and verse is Romans 8:28 - “All things work together for the good.” My mistakes and sins have been occasions of displaying God’s mercy to me and His ability to bring good out of evil. I am very sorry for having offended God, but I praise and thank Him for His goodness in forgiving me and using my actions as roundabout ways of bringing forth good.

We recently heard another line about this in the Exsultet, which was sung at the Easter Vigil - “O happy fault, o necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a redeemer.”

I look back over my life and see many places where I could have made much better decisions, but I activate the virtue of hope and trust that in the hands of God, these evil things will not continue to have evil effects forever.

So, no, I don’t really have any regrets. God is working it out.

Betsy

 

[MarieVeronica]

I have two regrets. One has been resolved. The other, I’m still praying about.

The first regret… is that I left the Church for 10 years. Through God’s Mercy… I’m Home. And I will never leave, again.

My other regret, is that I haven’t been more involved in my god-sons life. Please pray for me and for him.

 

[christcnection1]

One of the only Bible verses I know by chapter and verse is Romans 8:28 - “All things work together for the good.” My mistakes and sins have been occasions of displaying God’s mercy to me and His ability to bring good out of evil. I am very sorry for having offended God, but I praise and thank Him for His goodness in forgiving me and using my actions as roundabout ways of bringing forth good.

We recently heard another line about this in the Exsultet, which was sung at the Easter Vigil - “O happy fault, o necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a redeemer.”

I look back over my life and see many places where I could have made much better decisions, but I activate the virtue of hope and trust that in the hands of God, these evil things will not continue to have evil effects forever.

So, no, I don’t really have any regrets. God is working it out.

Betsy

I certainly can’t argue with the Romans 8:28 angle Betsy. It’s something to rejoice in that God can turn garbage to gold…

…but I’m coming more at it from the John 14:15 perspective… “if you love me, you will obey my commandments.”

I regret my sin because if has offended God; furthermore, some of my sin may have hindered others from coming to Christ. I can’t think of anything more regrettable than thinking my actions may have contributed to someone being eternally lost.

Lord have mercy…

 

[MarieVeronica]

It’s something to rejoice in that God can turn garbage to gold…

Profoundly wise! This lifted my heart. Thank you.

 

[DJgang]

I have a friend. She’s had two or three abortions, been addicted to alcohol and drugs, spent two years in prison for dealing and only God know what else she’s been involved in…

She now runs a half-way house for women serving time on drug and alcohol charges, helps them with counseling and gets them jobs…

She drives around with a bumper sticker that says…

“NO REGRETS”

Yes, garbage turned to gold, as another poster mentioned.

 

[BamaRider]

I don’t have regrets. Keeping regrets, and living in the past will hold you back. There is nothing you can do about what ever you did yesterday, last year, or 20 years ago.

Any wrongs I have commented I take them to Confession. God has forgiven, he has had lifted them from me, so I don’t dwell on them. Nothing I can do to change what has happened. Could I have done somethings better? For sure. But I don’t spend 2 seconds a day thinking about such stuff. I’m thinking about what God needs me to do TODAY.

Whether they be poor business decesions, sins, or whatever let them go. Jesus doesn’t care about them and neither should we. Learn from them, but don’t get stuck on it. How many people beat themselves up with regret, and saddness about stuff from long ago. Holding grudges, and the coulda, shoulda, woulda.

And same thing for the future. People that worry about the future will give themselves uclers. Trust in God, he has a plan for what he wants you to do, and when you drift from it, you will KNOW it.

Now that I don’t dwell on the past, or worry about the future, I can focus on havin fun today!

And thats my :twocents:

 

[christcnection1]

I have a friend. She’s had two or three abortions, been addicted to alcohol and drugs, spent two years in prison for dealing and only God know what else she’s been involved in…

She now runs a half-way house for women serving time on drug and alcohol charges, helps them with counseling and gets them jobs…

She drives around with a bumper sticker that says…

“NO REGRETS”

Yes, garbage turned to gold, as another poster mentioned.

Praise God for this transformation… I can identify with much of this.

I was that poster. However, I am advocating that we ought to have regrets. Just because she experienced these things doesn’t mean she couldn’t be doing something even better had she not been involved in this lifestyle in the first place. Many of the Saints were never in spiritual darkness in their lives, but they still turned the world upside down.

To regret is to feel sorry about something. It is God’s will that we are sorry about our sins, and even after we are forgiven, there is the process of expiation… not to mention healing from past wounds. Maybe some wounds are not meant to heal because God’s strength is made more perfect in our weakness.

A healthy view on “regrets” serves to move us forward to become the people of God He wants us to be. We can be forgiven and feel forgiven, but still regret our past wrongs.

For example: I regret not loving and helping a family member who committed suicide. I didn’t fully know they were in that much pain, but still, perhaps something I could have done would have made the difference. And although I know I am forgiven for not being there for him, how could I not regret? There is no recovery from this one. The likelihood is that this individual will never see heaven.

Regret has an important place when properly understood. At the very least, it’s a reminder of how to do a better job the next time around.

 

[kristie_m]

Kind of a loaded question, but here’s my take.

I have an awful lot in my life that I regret. However, having confessed said “stuff”…I don’t dwell on it the way that I used to . (LOVE that sacrament of reconciliation!!!) I’ve since been able to use a fair amount of my experience to guide others who are headed down the same path. God really does turn all things for good.

 

[christcnection1]

I think perhaps you may need to be more specific in your question as I beleive people may be interpreting it differently.

Do you mean to ask if people simply have regrets or are you curious if people dwell on their regrets? Is it enought to confess your sins and let it go or should there be some period of regret after? Of course all of us have regrets,

I think it is a struggle not to dwell on past mistakes personally. I admire those that can put things behind them in a healthy way of course after a good confession.

Hope this helps, God bless.

I believe I clarified some of this with subsequent posts. I also agree that it’s a good thing to be able to put things behind you from the past…

But I certainly know there are things I wish I did differently. In that sense I regret.

Regretting can serve to prevent us from making the same mistake over and over. It’s like a mental marker of where trouble is, or how to better handle a similar situation.

 

[CB_Catholic]

I have regrets for some things I did that have repurcussions still going on today. For instance, I did not raise my children to be good Catholics. I raised them Catholic, but as I did not practice my Catholicism as I should have, and really did not know Jesus as I do today, I had little faith to pass on. So now I have a son who does not want to have anything to do with religion, and a daughter who is Catholic, goes to Mass (mostly), but knows little about her faith, and does not want to talk about it. I have asked forgiveness, and all I can do now is pray for them, and try to set an example for them. But I don’t dwell on it or I would really become depressed.

There is a bright spot, though–my 6 year old grandaughter seems to have a very close relationship with Jesus. She has always been like this and when she was only 2, she would ask her mother to take her to church (God’s House). When she was 3 and visiting me, she insisted on me taking her to my church so she could walk around and see everything. And recently, she picked up my Rosary and in front of the whole family, held the Crucifix and told Jesus how much she loved him, how she knew He was with her every day even though she couldn’t see Him, and then made everyone in the family kiss the Crucifix and tell Jesus we loved Him. Totally spontaneous. Once when she was sick she prayed to Jesus to make her better, and then told her mother that Jesus said she would be better tomorrow!!! So maybe Jesus is using her to witness to the family.

 

[Susan1006]

Regrets…I’ve had a few…That was Frank Sinatra, BTW, and I am not going to deny regrets. But, that said, to let myself indulge in a pity party is a gift to Uncle Screwtape, who wants me to be miserable and forget that I am forgiven for the sins that led to the sitations that caused the regrets.

 

[Belle10]

IRegretting can serve to prevent us from making the same mistake over and over. It’s like a mental marker of where trouble is, or how to better handle a similar situation.

I agree with this, but I think as Catholics we need to remember that in place of this “motivation” we have grace from the confessional which helps us in the same way. It’s kind of the “positive” rather than “negative” reinforcement, know what I mean?

There is a bright spot, though–my 6 year old grandaughter seems to have a very close relationship with Jesus. She has always been like this and when she was only 2, she would ask her mother to take her to church (God’s House). When she was 3 and visiting me, she insisted on me taking her to my church so she could walk around and see everything. And recently, she picked up my Rosary and in front of the whole family, held the Crucifix and told Jesus how much she loved him, how she knew He was with her every day even though she couldn’t see Him, and then made everyone in the family kiss the Crucifix and tell Jesus we loved Him. Totally spontaneous. Once when she was sick she prayed to Jesus to make her better, and then told her mother that Jesus said she would be better tomorrow!!! So maybe Jesus is using her to witness to the family.

How wonderful!!! :clapping: :extrahappy:

Regrets…I’ve had a few…That was Frank Sinatra, BTW, and I am not going to deny regrets. But, that said, to let myself indulge in a pity party is a gift to Uncle Screwtape, who wants me to be miserable and forget that I am forgiven for the sins that led to the sitations that caused the regrets.

I agree, which is why we have to try to let go of regrets. I still have them too, but when they pop into my mind I simply remember I’ve received forgiveness for them and I need to focus on what’s ahead of me, not what’s behind me.