Secret Regrets

Several years ago, I had the honor of meeting a young man in Iowa who left a huge impression on me. He has a heart for people, and more specifically, a heart for helping people find a way to verbalize the secret regrets of their lives. He created a website (http://www.secretregrets.com/) and invited people to anonymously post their biggest regrets ... the only identifier listed with a post is the person's age and sex. A question that appears in the heading of the website asks, "What ONE thing would you change if you had a second chance?" Kevin, the founder of Secret Regrets, has gone on to do some amazing things since I met him in Iowa all those years ago. The website led to a published book of the same name, an appearance on Dr. Phil, and being featured on CNN and in Psychology Today magazine. But what is so much more important is that Kevin's Secret Regrets project is helping thousands of people, through the freedom that accompanies the release of their secrets and the advice that is offered up by others who may choose to comment on the posts.

Each day, I pop in to read the "Secret Regret of the Day" ... let me tell you, some of the things that people regret will tear your heart out. Giving a child away ... pretending not to know about a spouse's infidelity ... living with addiction ... experiencing the pain of broken relationships ... not sharing Christ with loved ones ... remaining in an abusive marriage ... and the list goes on and on. Some of the ones that touch me the most deeply are the regrets that folks have concerning not taking the time to let the people they love know that they loved them ... before it was too late. So many people with so many regrets ... so many people who would like to have a second chance ... a chance to do things differently. I think if the truth be told, we all have regrets in life; in fact, I believe that is one commonality that we as humans all share. Some of us have fewer regrets than others, but I think each one of us can point to at least one event in our lives and say, "I wish I would have done that differently." And I will go one step further and say that people who say they have no regrets at all in life are deceiving themselves in a big way.

I've had the regrets issue on my mind a lot lately, perhaps because the new doctor I'm seeing is digging into my past and forcing me to remember and talk about a lot of things that I've spent years trying to bury deep within my heart and mind. And the more she makes me talk about various areas of my life, the more I've found myself wishing I had a second chance on some things. Some of my regrets I will probably carry with me to my grave. Some I am beginning to open up about and share with my doctor. Some I will eventually share with the people I love. But every single one of my regrets, I share with my God ... you see, He already knows about them anyway and wants me to allow Him to heal the wounds they have caused.

Kudos to you, Kevin, and to your vision and wisdom in creating Secret Regrets. I pray that you will continue to allow God to use your heart to help the hurting hearts of the world ... it's a good thing you're doing, my friend, a very good thing.

"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2