"twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the ones that you did do. so throw off the bowlines. sail away from the safe harbor. catch the trade winds in your sails. explore. dream. hope." -- mark twain
This was the quote of the day on my calendar. I don't know if I like it or not. At first when I read it I did, and then I didn't, and then I did again, and now... I don't think I agree with all of it.
I won't tell you completely why because I think you should make your own decision. What do you think of this quote? I'm interested in all responses...
2 comments:
I like it. And normally I'm not the least bit interested with these little excerpts, but hey, its mark twain! Even if you end up homeless, its still thrilling to explore. Go on an adventya with God!
I agree with every part of the quote. For some people it may depend on what he was thinking about when he said "things you didn't do. I suppose I wouldn't agree with him if when he said "things you didn't do" he meant things that are obviously and morally bad to do (smoking weed, not loving your neighbor, sex outside of marriage, etc.) But if he's talking about taking risks and stepping outside of our fear and our conditioned behaviors piled onto us by this world, than by all means, I completely agree with this quote. Things that you would like to do, but you don't have the courage to do, or aren't confident enough to do...
Either way, God has grace for what you did do and what you didn't do. I would just rather do something that I wanted to do (if it's good) than thinking about it later and not doing it. Doing things that you wouldn't normally do, or thinngs that have the potential to be "I wish I would have done" are, I am convinced, ways in which we grow in the Lord... it gives Him more of a chance to reveal himself.
This is not to say that I am underplaying the good things that I did do. We can always be happy in those... but I believe that God is always calling us to more. And I got on a rabbit track... sorry. There is always more to strive for as long as we are imperfect and live on earth. Not that we should always be trying to find a way to tell ourselves we aren't doing enough, b/c we would then be denying God's grace. But walking with God is exciting, he always has more for us if we dare to do it.
Also, if we are still holding on to disappointment about things we did 20 years ago... well, I hope none of us as Christ followers would be in that place in 20 years. He casts our sins as far as the east is from the west.
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