Have you ever wished you could just hit command Z (or ctrl Z for those other “people”) for life?
Let’s say you have half a dozen you could use in your lifetime. Maybe you wouldn’t have dated someone. Maybe gone, eaten, drank, or wore something. It could be you want to hit command Z on the leftovers you ate last night.
More than likely there is some pretty serious stuff you wish to hit command Z on. Even in my not so much traumatic life, I have stuff.
I wish I hadn’t said that.
I wish I hadn’t indulged.
I wish I hadn’t made that decision.
Yet, in the words of The Tragically Hip, “No dress rehearsals, This is your life.” We have to live with our choices, others have to live with our choices, and we have to live with others’ choices.
Even when typing this, it is so freeing to be able to hit command Z and be able to go back and type something different. Life, however, doesn’t offer us such luxuries.
We must live with the pain, choices, and consequences, it is that certain, but what do we do with it is not. This is the crux of it.
What do you do with the things you wish you could hit command Z on? This is the question we must ask ourselves.
Avoid?
Face?
Own?
Distract?
Fight?
Justify?
So many options.
I believe there is a “best option.” When we own it, that is what changes our life. Yes, there may be consequences, but what’s the other option?
Russel Brand writes,
“By maintaining a personal museum of resentments, we imprison ourselves within it.” Whether that resentment is directed toward others or ourselves, it’s not a way to live.
I believe the best and only real option that brings relief is to own it.
But what then? For me owning it means admitting that I am fallible but that those fallibilities do not define me.
What defines me is Christ.
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Not my past.
Not my choices.
Not the consequences.
When I can admit that I am weak and make mistakes, it allows God to come and heal. As the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth,
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Co 12:9–10)
There is a strength in vulnerability. You’re not hiding–you’re not worried about your secret being found out–you’re not trying to contain the confession that could relieve your soul.
When I can admit my wrongs openly, it makes room for Christ. Christ can’t be king if we have propped ourselves up in the position. Christ can’t lead us through if we have clenched the reigns.
In my weaknesses, He is strong. What a great comfort, for I am more than weak. As much it would be great to be able to hit command Z from time to time, I would hate to deprive myself of the strength Christ has given me. I would hate to sacrifice the lessons that I’ve learned. To surrender the character that has been developed by the mud and mire of life.
Sure, command Z would be helpful, but at what cost? No, thank you.
I’ll take Christ any day.
What’s one thing you wish you could hit command Z on?
Check out the resources used in this post
joshtrombley.com 