There is a scene in the movie “We’re the Millers” where Emma Roberts meets a guy at a carnival. She brings him back to meet her “parents” played by Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis and when asked about his tattoo which reads, NO RAGRETS, he says, “That’s my motto. No regrets.” Sudeikis replies, “Really? Not even one letter?” I laughed at this exchange and didn’t think any more about it until recently. This scene was obviously included in the film to elicit laughter from the audience and highlight this guy’s lack of intelligence, but it’s actually incredibly profound. What if we all lived this way? What if we all lived purposefully and without regret?
As of late I have seen a lot written about regret. It’s been popping up everywhere, in conversations with friends, on social media and even in the book I just started reading. I have struggled with this idea of regret for a very, very long time. There are decision that I regret making and things that I regret not doing. I feel like I have made so many decisions over the past few years because I didn’t believe in my own abilities. I have never really trusted my own judgement because it always seemed that everyone else knew better than I did. Because of this, I have let numerous opportunities pass. I have made hasty decisions or backed out of something completely because I was afraid of failure or of rocking the boat. However, in this process the only thing that I have been left with is a life that feels incredibly empty and full of, you guessed it, regret.
My sweet friend Hannah recommended the book Freefall to Fly by Rebekah Lyons to me a couple of months ago and I have put off buying it until this week. I opened it this morning and the pages are already aglow with the fluorescent hue of yellow highlighter. I couldn’t read more than a few pages because I was left exhausted by the prologue. Already it feels like God has taken a sledgehammer to my fear and any hesitations I may have had about the huge life change I am about to make in 5 months. Trust me, it’s THAT good.
The enemy has been working overtime lately to try and make me anxious about the World Race and what it is going to mean for my life. At one point, he almost succeeded. My fear crept in and that feeling of unworthiness and the lies of my inability spread through me like a house fire devouring any life-giving thoughts that I possessed. But I picked up this book and that all changed. On one of the first pages Lyons states, “Funny thing about regret: it shows up only when you know you’re supposed to do something and choose not to.” SLAP. IN. THE. FACE. I know that if I let my fear dictate my life, that the only thing I will get in return is a lifetime of regret and a huge helping of bitterness.
I’m not saying that I won’t have days when I feel anxious. I am certain that is not true. I can live with a little anxiety. Heck, I can even live with some fear of the unknown. What I cannot live with is knowing that God is calling me to something and deliberately not doing it. I have lived that way for as long as I can remember and it is debilitating and enormously unfulfilling.
Be blessed, y’all!
-H
