• I had taken that other job.
• I had done better in math.
• I wasn’t involved with that guy.

if only…”  Regrets are hard to live with. They anchor us to the past. If onlys don’t help us achieve anything, or to dream of something better. Looking to the past and wishing the present were better is an act of defeat, resignation, and hopelessness. I would rather ask, “what if?” What if…

• I take a risk for a better future.
• I sign up for an online class.
• I make better choices, think more highly of myself.

”what if?” It changes the way we look at the future. If God says,

• “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13.

if we live with regrets we won’t see the potential God has for us. Let us, there, throw off the “if onlys,” and put on the “what ifs,” trust in the good promises of God and begin to catch a glimpse of the glorious hope we have in Christ.