Believe it or not… It’s never too late

 

I started my day with a devotional about regrets. The writer listed several regrets she, as a nurse, had heard people who were near death state.

I read the question at the end to fill in the blank of what I regretted, and I had to stop and think. I’m ashamed to say that I wasted so much of my life by putting off things I should have gotten up and started.

Now, at my age, that habit hasn’t grown easier but harder. I have this long conversation telling myself that once I get up and get started, it will get done. (The elves have never come in overnight and done any of my projects.)

It's strange that when I was younger, I remember saying to myself, “Sue, take it easy, or you’ll burn yourself out and have nothing left when you get old.”

I should have listened. You wouldn’t believe what I could do in one day when I was younger. I didn’t know how to pace myself. I thought I had to get it all done in one day.

Now I spend so much time trying to convince myself to just get up. Now that I’ve confessed, the thought came to me as I contemplated my regrets, when the Holy Spirit clearly said, “Sue, no matter what you regret having not done, you can start right now.”

I thought about that. Today is the day that the Lord has made to rejoice and be glad in. Even if today is the very last day I see this side of heaven, that thing that I kept putting off, I can start today.

When I moved here to Florida, I wanted a new beginning. The main thing I prayed for was that my faith in the Lord would be the same on the outside of me as it is on the inside. I wanted God to be more important to me than anyone or anything else. I thought at seventy-six it was surely time.

God has been answering that prayer, but not in the way I thought. Several things took a turn I wasn’t expecting. It threw me. But once He loved and comforted me and got me quiet, I began to see that He really was answering my prayer. Nothing is like having your schedule wiped out along with things you thought were going to happen.

I had no choice but to draw close to the Holy Spirit. I was so discouraged and hurt. But if the things I had been planning once I got here had happened, I wouldn’t have drawn nearer to the Lord. We think we are going to do something when, in fact, if you are like me, you end up every night telling the Lord I promise I’ll start tomorrow.

Don’t let the lie of it being too late overwhelm your mind. The other thing that the Holy Spirit whispered to me was, “Why not start now?”

No matter how much time any of us has left here, we can use it wisely. We can start with rejoicing and being glad in this day. We can focus on the goodness of God. We can tell Him how thankful we are for another day. Then let that lead to listing the blessings we have. Before I knew it, I was sitting here writing this post that I had been putting off.

Whatever you regret in your life, if you are physically or mentally able to do it, start right now. Begin by telling the Lord, Thank you for this day and see where it goes.

 

I bless you.