If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.
1 Corinthians 13:2,3
A man just died. On my watch. A young man, all of 25 years, and with his life before him. He was suffering from a rapidly-deteriorating liver disease when he came to the hospital and I did everything I could think of to help him. It is a busy day but I've tried to remain on top of my game and I thought I was doing well enough. But then he died, and only at the moment of his demise did I realize something - I had failed to measure his blood sugar. I had thought of it but had relegated it as less important in the light of his emergency but now, in retrospect, it seems all important. The most distressing thought of all is that I don't know and will never know his blood sugar. That little piece of information would have cost little and could well have saved his life.
Could have … but not now. Not ever. The uncertainty is eating at me...
We all have regrets, hopefully yours are not a matter of life and death. Truth is you can probably think of one earth-shattering mistake, some wrong decision that went a long way to determine your, or someone else's, life. And there's nothing that gnaws at your spirit so much as the feeling that comes with not knowing what could have been. It's a torture of humanity that we can scarce escape since we are faced with decisions every day of our lives, choices that determine the course we will take and the consequences we will face.
Regrets are a part of life, but whatever you regret, you will be fine, so long as you do not regret the things that matter. Things like family, love and God. Perhaps, like me, you are keeping yourself busy with the nice and important things to the neglect of the necessary things. Did you get that?
One man of God said recently, some things are nice; they can be done. Some things are important; they should be done. Some things are necessary; they must be done. My dad says the good is often the enemy of the best. Can you see how perhaps the nice things are keeping you from doing the important things and the important things could stop you from doing the necessary things? Go ahead and regret not indulging in the nice things. Chew your fingers a little for not doing the important. But never, ever, regret missing out on the necessary things. And I think you know which things I am talking about … faith, hope, love.
With love, Doosuur.
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