If You Could Turn Back Time

If You Could Turn Back Time

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14

Thrifty Car Rental sponsors an annual Honeymoon Disasters Contest, and when they say they have received stories, they mean all kinds.

For example, one couple on their way to Nevada flipped their car. When they emerged, the husband, who had hit his head, could not remember the accident, recognize his bride, or recall the wedding.

Then there is the California couple who honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico, and had a terrific time swimming, feasting, and dancing. The fun ended when the husband playfully threw his bride onto the bed, fell on top of her, and broke two bones in her right leg. Three hours, one plate, and eight screws later, they were left with an $11,000 hospital bill that insurance wouldn’t cover.

A couple from Virginia, finalists in the contest one year, sat through a comedian’s shtick about The Titanic during one evening of their honeymoon cruise. Later, they awoke to the sound of crunching metal and the captain’s order to abandon ship. The couple’s lifeboat made it to shore, and the cruise line paid for accommodations—at a nudist colony.

If there were ever any couples who wish they could turn back time, it would have to be these poor souls. Don’t we all have that wish sometimes? Don’t you have a few conversations with each other you’d like to do over? Doors of opportunity you wish you had walked through? Decisions you would reverse? As Garrison Keillor says, “Show me a person without regret, and I’ll show you a person with memory loss.”

We’ve seen some couples poison their lives with regret—but we’ve also seen couples use their bad experiences to propel them to a better way of living. The former spend their days punishing themselves for something they should have done differently: “If only we had checked the weather report before we left,” they say. “If only we had torn up our credit cards before we got into this kind of debt.” “If only . . .” Whether it’s over the road not taken or the one taken too long, if-onlys can hound a couple to death.

Other couples overcome everything from angry words to bankruptcy and somehow rise above it. They’ve wrestled their regrets to the ground and walked away victorious. They no longer allow their yesterdays to use up their todays. How? They make a choice.

You can’t change your past. But you can take it to God and let him use your past as a springboard to a better tomorrow—or you can let it be the proverbial albatross that drags you down today. The choice is yours. What shouldas, couldas, and wouldas do you both need to surrender?

Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.

—Will Rogers