MOP IT UP. .. AND MOVE RIGHT ON. 

A shop owner sat quietly at the kitchen island, staring into space.

“How could I have been so careless?” she thought.

Things had been disappearing from her store for months, yet she hadn’t noticed until last week when she searched every nook and cranny, every inch of her office, and did not find what she was looking for. The realization stung. She had been replaying conversations, searching her memory and questioning herself over and over again since then.

She had been reckless, leaving things the way she had. How was she going to go on from this point? This was devastating.

Then she stood up abruptly.

“Stop!” she said out loud.

“This has happened. You cannot change it. But you can put measures in place to stop it from happening again.”

She reached for the remote control and switched on the jazz station. Then she picked up her writing pad and began making a list—not of regrets, but of changes.

New Systems.

Better Accountability.

Practical Safeguards.

She made a decision that day. She would not think herself into despair, depression or sickness.

Yet, all too often, this is exactly what we do.

We replay conversations.

We relive mistakes.

We camp there far longer than we should.

We revisit regrets, and they have a way of charging us interest.

We keep pouring our energy into yesterday while tomorrow quietly waits for us.

There is certainly a place for honest reflection. Without any doubt, we must learn from our mistakes. We must take responsibility where necessary and make wise adjustments.

But a time must come when we simply have to stop crying over the spilt milk.

Mop it up… and move right on.

Why build a monument to a mistake when we can build wisdom from it?

Regret keeps us standing in one place, looking backwards, while wisdom allows us to carry the lesson forward—one faithful step at a time.

We do not pretend the milk did not spill. Yes, it did. But we must move on.

Yesterday is a poor place to live.

We must not allow yesterday’s mistake to steal today’s joy and tomorrow’s opportunity.

It is never worth it.

The Apostle Paul understood this better than most. Before he became the great missionary who wrote much of the New Testament, he persecuted the Church. That wasn’t “spilt milk.” It was devastating.

Yet after encountering Christ, Paul did not spend the rest of his life imprisoned by his past. He never denied what he had done. In fact, he mentioned it several times in his Epistles. But he refused to let it become his permanent address.

He received God’s grace, which was more than enough and is still available for us today.

He learned from his past.

Then he kept walking.

Sometimes we think our greatest mistake is the mistake itself. But that is not really the case. The greater danger is allowing that mistake to become the starting point of a downward spiral.

One poor decision does not have to become a poor week.

One poor week does not have to become a poor year.

One poor year does not have to become a poor lifetime.

The lesson matters more than the regret.

The longer we hold on to what cannot be changed, the less energy we have for what can still be built.

Dear friend, perhaps today there is something in your life you wish you had done differently.

Hear what the Word of God says:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43: 18 – 19 NIV

Learn the lesson. 

Make whatever changes are necessary.

Receive God’s grace. 

Then keep walking. God is not finished writing that story. 

MOP UP THAT MESS … AND MOVE RIGHT ON. 

 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©