Sometimes one word carries so much religious baggage that we miss the beautiful simplicity of its message.
REPENT.
Recognize what isn’t working.
Turn from it.
CHANGE.
And begin again.
When some people hear the word REPENT, their religious genes get stirred up.
Others immediately activate their anti-religion cells.
Easy now.
Before we turn one little word into an argument, let’s look at the practical invitation contained within it.
Something isn’t right.
Something isn’t working.
Something you are doing is bringing misery, confusion, guilt, destruction or disappointment into your life or somebody else’s.
What should you do?
CHANGE IT.
What better message could there be?
A CHANCE TO RIGHT YOUR WRONGS
There is no good reason to knowingly continue doing something that doesn’t deliver anything worthwhile.
We have all heard the familiar description of insanity:
Doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting something different to happen.
Whether we call that insanity, stubbornness, pride, habit or plain foolishness, the important part is recognizing it.
Once you SEE it…
you have reached a wonderful place.
Because now you can do something about it.
STOP
Sometimes spiritual wisdom gets complicated when the first instruction is remarkably simple.
STOP.
If you know something is wrong…
STOP.
If you are lying…
STOP.
If you are cheating…
STOP.
If you are deliberately hurting somebody…
STOP.
If resentment has been eating you alive…
STOP FEEDING IT.
If some behavior keeps producing the same miserable harvest…
STOP PLANTING IT.
Before worrying about tomorrow, interrupt the wrong TODAY.
LOOK AT IT
Now that you have stopped long enough to see clearly, don’t immediately run away from what happened.
Look at it.
What did I do?
Why did I do it?
Who did it affect?
What did it cost?
What part did I play?
What needs correcting?
This is where honesty becomes medicine.
Not condemnation.
Not endless guilt.
Not beating yourself over the head for the next twenty years.
HONESTY.
You cannot properly change something you refuse to acknowledge.
BE SORRY…BUT DON’T BUILD A HOUSE THERE
Sorrow has a purpose.
When we recognize that we have hurt ourselves, another person or wandered somewhere we know we shouldn’t have gone, sorrow tells us:
THIS MATTERED.
Good.
Receive the message.
But sorrow isn’t supposed to become your permanent address.
Guilt that leads you toward correction can serve a purpose.
Guilt that keeps you chained forever to something you already recognized, corrected and abandoned becomes another problem.
Repentance doesn’t merely stare backward.
IT TURNS.
DON’T DO IT AGAIN
Here is where repentance becomes real.
Realizing that something isn’t profitable, isn’t healthy, violates your conscience or harms others is only the beginning.
Now comes the turn.
Don’t do it anymore.
You were going this way.
You discovered where it led.
Now…
GO ANOTHER WAY.
Simple?
Yes.
Easy?
Not always.
Worth it?
ABSOLUTELY.
THE PAST CAN TEACH WITHOUT CONTINUING TO COMMAND
This is important.
Your past should be permitted to teach you.
It should not automatically be permitted to own you.
You did something wrong?
Learn.
You made a terrible decision?
Learn.
You hurt somebody?
Make amends where possible and LEARN.
You wasted years?
Then don’t waste today lamenting the years you wasted yesterday.
That only creates another wasted day.
The lesson is valuable.
The chains are not.
A FRESH START IS A REAL THING
Think about how remarkable this is.
Human beings can change direction.
We can say:
“I WAS WRONG.”
“I SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT.”
“I’M SORRY.”
“I’M GOING TO MAKE THIS RIGHT.”
“I’M NOT DOING THAT ANYMORE.”
And then…
BEGIN AGAIN.
What an extraordinary system.
You are not required to remain forever identical to the person who made yesterday’s mistake.
Today gives you another opportunity to demonstrate who you are becoming.
THIS SYSTEM WORKS
Even someone who wants nothing to do with religion can recognize the practical wisdom here.
Identify destructive behavior.
Stop it.
Accept responsibility.
Correct what you reasonably can.
Learn from it.
Don’t repeat it.
Move forward differently.
That works.
But for the person who believes this opportunity comes from God, another dimension enters.
GRACE.
THE SPIRITUAL PEARL
For the believer, repentance isn’t merely behavior modification.
It is a return.
You recognize that you have wandered away from what you know is right, good, pure, decent and true.
Something inside calls your attention to it.
Your conscience becomes uncomfortable.
You stop.
You acknowledge.
You turn.
And instead of finding a locked door…
you discover MERCY.
That is something worth pondering.
THE PRODIGAL PART OF US
There is something of the prodigal in mankind.
We wander.
We experiment.
We insist upon our own way.
Sometimes we don’t appreciate home until we have traveled far enough away from it.
Then one day something happens.
We COME TO OURSELVES.
I like that.
You recognize:
What am I doing here?
Why am I living like this?
This isn’t me.
I KNOW BETTER.
And the journey home begins.
DON’T WAIT FOR DISASTER
You don’t have to wait until your life completely falls apart before changing direction.
That’s another Pearl worth keeping.
If the warning light appears on the dashboard, you don’t wait for the engine to explode before investigating it.
Your conscience works something like that.
A little discomfort.
A little inner knowing.
Something isn’t right.
PAY ATTENTION.
Small corrections made early can prevent enormous corrections later.
PRIDE WILL TRY TO INTERFERE
One obstacle to repentance is pride.
“I can’t admit I was wrong.”
Why not?
You were wrong.
Welcome to mankind.
Admitting an error doesn’t make you smaller.
Continuing an error because you’re too proud to admit it makes the error bigger.
Sometimes three of the most powerful words a human being can speak are:
I WAS WRONG.
Follow those with:
I AM SORRY.
Then prove both statements with:
I HAVE CHANGED.
SECOND CHANCES NEED A FIRST STEP
People love the idea of second chances.
But a second chance requires leaving the first mistake behind.
You cannot keep carrying the same behavior into every new opportunity and call it a fresh start.
A fresh start requires something fresh from YOU.
A different decision.
A different response.
A different direction.
Otherwise we aren’t beginning again.
We’re simply repeating ourselves in a different location.
I SAY TO YOU…REPENT
Yes.
I will use the word.
REPENT.
Not as a club.
Not as an accusation.
Not because I believe I stand above anyone.
I need the message too.
We all do.
Wherever you find something within yourself that you know isn’t working, isn’t right or isn’t worthy of the person you were intended to become…
CHANGE IT.
Cast off the baggage.
Refuse to keep repeating what you already know.
Be sorry for your part.
Correct what can be corrected.
Ask forgiveness where forgiveness is needed.
Forgive where you need to forgive.
Then…
TURN AROUND.
FINAL THOUGHT
Repentance is not merely about what you did.
It is about WHAT YOU DO NEXT.
Yesterday says:
“Look what you did.”
Grace says:
“Now that you see it…
WHAT WILL YOU DO TODAY?”
There is your opportunity.
There is your second chance.
There is your turn.
Take it.
You’ll be glad you did…
VERY GLAD.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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