Not long ago someone asked me if I had any regrets in life. Was there anything from my past that I regretted doing or not doing? I was somewhat surprised by my response; not so much in the answer itself but in how quickly I responded with, "No."
It is at this point that I would like to introduce everyone to Bill Kirby's Life Rule #13: "Don't look back." Maybe it was born from my love of the story in the Bible of Lot's wife looking back and getting turned into a pillar of salt or perhaps it was hatched from my love of the band Boston; but either way, this mantra has served me well. Let's face it, there really isn't anything good to be accomplished by regretting something that you've done in the past. You can't do anything about now anyway. Sure, we learn from our mistakes but that doesn't mean you have to have regrets.
This leads me to Bill Kirby Life Rule #11: "Any lovin' is good lovin'." - Wait...that's BKLR #4 (my bad). What I meant to say was, this leads me to Bill Kirby Life Rule #11: "Life's a dance you learn as you go." When you're dancing you have no regrets and life is one big dance. Have I been perfect in this life? No. Have I always made the best decisions? No, but I can't do anything about that now; with the exception of, learning from my past and trying not to make the same mistakes.
Perhaps my Little League baseball coach said it best when he told me (after me striking out), "Hey, you'll get 'em next time." And I did. I've been knocked down but I've gotten back up every time. As I've danced the dance of life, I've stepped on a few toes but the people those toes were attached to have forgiven me. They have understood that, just like them, I am not perfect either. The problem I've struggled with over the years is not so much with God or others forgiving me but with me forgiving me. I wasn't always a good life dancer but I've gotten better.
Just remember: "Life is too serious to be taken seriously." That's Bill Kirby Life Rule #15. You can borrow it if you want to.
Be Well.
Bill
