I just finished watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, literally. The credits ended as I started typing this line, and this has put me in a reflective mood. You’re going to get to see a rare side of me. Usually I write my blog posts days in advance and with the longer ones I do a lot of editing and reworking. This one will get spell check, and a once over, but nothing more.

The movie does a good job of presenting an interesting take on causal determinism, however, it reminded me of a principle I live my life by: No regrets.

NO REGRETS.

I remember where in the church I was sitting when Pastor Dave McCoy mentioned that in his sermon when I was about 12. He had heard it himself in church and wrote it in his Bible as a kid and I did the same. That has stuck with me. No regrets.

I was the guy on a plane that you would not want to sit next to. I spent quite a bit of time as a teen on coast to coast flights harassing my seatmates trying to witness to them. I would apologize to them now, but I don’t regret it.

I turned down an AFROTC scholarship to study theology and accumulated $50,000 in student loans to follow God’s call, but I don’t regret it.

I’ve had past relationships that happened, but probably shouldn’t have. That could have happened, but didn’t. And of course the ones that happened, and ended because someone did something really dumb. I know that none of them would have lasted, but I know that because they didn’t last. The good memories are awesome, the bad taught me something, but nothing to regret.

Our successes sure are fun, but it’s our failures that make us who we are. You can learn a lot more from one mistake than you can from a lot of right moves.

While I know I was wrong for the vast majority of my life, I know I helped people. I know that I helped lonely students who needed someone to talk to when I was an RA, dorm chaplain, and student dean. I know that I helped reassure some patients who were sick or headed into surgery when I was doing rounds during my hospital chaplaincy class. Today what I learned back then aids in helping people with this blog.

No regrets.