The Unregrettable Scrapbook, Part One

Mama and Papa 26 years ago today!

Guest Post by Mama

Otherwise known as "Jennifer," Mama is an amazing, wise, Godly woman and a wonderful mother. We are thrilled to "introduce" her to you through her own writing and Godly insight. Coincidentally, today happens to be her and Papa's 26th Wedding Anniversary--thank you both for your example of a God-honoring marriage!

Because this is a two-part message, we have decided to postpone the giveaway until Saturday. This means that you have until midnight PST on Friday to enter to win an Amazon gift certificate or a World magazine subscription, so go leave a comment!

The last few years the Lord has prompted me over and over to get back into scrapbooking and preserving our family’s memories and photographs so that we might enjoy them for many years to come. As I sit and scrapbook and go through photos, a flood of memories come rushing at me. Precious memories of precious days that we can never get back.

Good memories are wonderful to think about. But what about the not-so-good memories? What about regrets? Do you have any regrets of your past? I do! Boy, if I could go back to when I was a teenager and make some different choices, how much easier the years that would follow would be.

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, Before the difficult days come, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them (Ecclesiastes 12:1).”

We find here a man that lived most of his life foolishly and was left to live the rest of his days in regret. This verse has always caused me to fear; how often have we heard someone say: "Oh, how I wish I had done things differently? Oh, if only I could go back and tell that teenage self of mine ‘I’m going to wish many years from now that I made choices that were pleasing to the Lord. I must choose God’s best for my youth.’”

But for God’s grace, all of us will wish we had done this, so let’s start now! And what a perfect opportunity for those of you who are yet young and in your youth. Your lives are just beginning… a new beginning, a fresh start….

So how can you remove regret from your future? How can you say in 20 or 30 ears “Praise the Lord—His hand was upon me in my youth! He directed me to a path of obedience as I grew into the man or woman of God He wanted me to be.

Picture yourself with your children one day. What kind of memories do you want to be able to pass on to them? One of the things the Lord has taught my husband and I over the years is to have a generational thinking. What we do now will affect our children and even our children’s children and further. I would like to challenge each of you, many of whom are young and are yet to have children, to begin to have a generational focus. Begin to let the Lord bend your thinking and your vision to the idea that the things you do while you are young will affect your future. The choices that you make now, whether good or bad, will have an affect on many generations. They will affect your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. Don’t drop the ball…carry that baton from your parents, so that you can one day pass it along to your children and then they can pass it along to theirs. It’s easy to get side tracked or lose your zeal, getting lost in the stress of everyday life. But future generations are depending on you!