Turning a Poor Beginning into a Better Ending
February 21, 2010 · 0 Comments
By: Robert J. Tamasy
We are now nearly two months into another year, and if you are like many people, you already have something that you wish you could do differently. Or perhaps you are plagued, even haunted, by a regrettable decision from your past. If only you had the chance to do it over. Golfers know this as a “mulligan” – being permitted to replay a particularly bad shot. Unfortunately, real life rarely offers us the opportunity for mulligans. We must live with poor actions and decisions, and often have to accept the consequences.
Recently someone sent me a quotation that addresses this type of dilemma: “Nobody can start a new beginning, but you can start today and make a new ending.”
That seems like solid reasoning to me. Whether it is a round of golf, opening a new business, or establishing a new relationship, you only have one opportunity to start. And sometimes we fail to start as well or as strong as we would like. But like a world-class sprinter, if we stumble out of the blocks we can’t go back and restart the race. We just continue onward, hoping to do better as we advance.
What do you have in your life that you wish you could do differently, or even do over? You may have made a career choice that, in retrospect, was unwise. Someone may have offered you an opportunity that is no longer available. You may have made some investments that, it turned out, were unsound. You may have damaged an important relationship, perhaps beyond repair. Unfortunately, no matter how badly you wish it were otherwise, what is done is done – and cannot be undone. So where do you go from here?
As the statement above declares, our beginning has been cast in concrete, but we can start today and work toward a new, more promising ending. The Bible has much to say about this:
Leave past failures behind, and recommit to achieving your goals. Dwelling on the unchangeable past is usually counterproductive. After reevaluating where you want to go, how you intend to get there, and how you will know when you have arrived, maintain concentration on your destination. “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
Continually looking behind you will cause the path ahead of you to be crooked and erratic. A farmer driving a tractor to till his field maintains his focus forward, knowing that to look backward could well result in failing to keep straight the lines he is cultivating. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, NKJV).
Remnants of the past are often incompatible with the present or the future. “Let the past remain in the past,” it is sometimes said. Often a fresh start, a total departure from what has gone on previously, is the best course of action in our quest to forge a desirable future. “…’No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.’” (Luke 5:36).
Until next week!
Robert J. Tamasy is vice president of communications for Leaders Legacy, Inc., a non-profit corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. A veteran of more than 35 years in professional journalism, he is the author of Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace (River City Press) and has coauthored with David A. Stoddard, The Heart of Mentoring: 10 Proven Principles for Developing People to Their Fullest Potential (NavPress). For more information, see www.leaderslegacy.com or www.rivercitypress.net.
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