How many times in your life have you looked back and what you recognized was not what you thought you were portraying yourself to be? The mind seems to store the unpleasant things along with the pleasant ones, the words spoken that caused pain or anger as well as words spoken to uplift or inspire. The happiness shared and the sadness, time may heal the wound but the scares remain; a reminder of the damage done.

It had been years since you saw her, she was your very best friend once upon a time; never could either of you have imagined anything would come between the two of you. Yet, ill spoken words, misunderstandings lead to separation. Memories that could have been made now lost. Now the both of you regret the time lost, whatever caused the problem long forgotten; pride stood in the way of reconnecting.

The Holiday season has a way of causing us to re-evaluate our priorities, consider what we have said or done to others, who we may have helped or failed to help when the opportunity was presented to us. We find ourselves thinking about all the things we have to be thankful for; family, friends, homes, and yes, even jobs. You could say “I have no worries so I can be happy” and not concern yourself with the plight of others.

Unfortunately, so many are without just the simply necessities of life; shelter, food, family, or jobs. When we see them many of us don’t think about how we can help, we start to judge even though we don’t know their circumstances; most likely our first thought is how did they get here? Why don’t they get a job? They just don’t want to work, we can think of a million reasons for their situation and still not consider how we could help.

Life has a path for each of us to walk, at any given moment that path could change; we never know how those changes will affect our walk. In the blink of an eye we could be walking in the shoes of someone else, facing the same dilemmas of life they are facing. As the holiday season approaches and we give thanks for all our blessings, consider sharing those blessings with others. Check on that elderly neighbor who has no family, call someone who is house bound and offer your services, invite someone to share your meal.

Take time to repair relationships, help someone pay a bill or buy groceries, ask forgiveness from people you may have hurt; be present to touch a lonely heart or reach out your hands in service to a stranger. We never know how long or short our lives will be or the impact we make on others, it is important that we try to live our best lives; with NO REGRETS.

My revelation as I sit by the pool of grace