REGRETTING by Christian Herald

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1881

REGRETTING.

By Christian Herald

OUR lives are so full of regretting— We would fain live them over again; Could we know we should do any better, We would patiently bear all the pain.

Go back, and retrace every footstep, Leave out all the wrong we have said; Unsay the harsh words we repeated, And whisper kind words in their stead.

Undo all the hasty misdoing— Do much that we left all undone, Be patient, where we were complaining— Where we walked, we would joyfully run.

Scatter roses, where thorns we left growing, And smiles, where we left only tears; Comfort hearts, which we left in their sorrow, To struggle with doubting and fears.

We would pass by the forest of pleasure, That gave to us nothing but leaves; Go out in life's wonderful harvest And gather the bright golden sheaves.

But we cannot retrace our footsteps; We cannot go over the way; Regrets and regrettings are idle, When moments are passing away.

Let us then leave it all with Jesus! The crooked path we have made; He'll make it all straight over yonder, We'll trust him and not be afraid.

Leave the past with its mournful regretting, And only live for to-day, One step at a time, if he leadeth, Will reach to the shining way.

Thank God! it was not for the righteous, But sinners, he died to save; Oh, wonderful, loving Redeemer, For us he went down to the grave.

Welcome life, with its toil and sorrow, Welcome each little daily care. He can make of these trials a garland, Woven into the crown we shall wear.

Oh, earth-life, so strange and mysterious, So full, yet so incomplete, These unfinished lives he will finish When we lay them down at his feet.

—Christian Herald.