In need of a little editing

I remember the first time I wrote an article to be considered for professional publication. Before submitting it I had a respected teacher read it over. After reading it through a couple of times he commented, "The content is very good, but I can tell you are a little emotional about the subject matter. Put the article in a desk drawer and don't look at it for two weeks." I took his advice and sure enough two weeks later I felt differently about the content. I repeated this process two more times and when I finally submitted the article it was accepted and published in October, 1984.

Wouldn't it be great if we could go back and rewrite some of our own history. There are more than a few things I would have edited out of my past - moments of shame, times I disappointed those I love, mistakes I made as a parent. People who say, "I wouldn't change a thing because it made me the person I am today," are little selfish in my estimation - they forget that their actions impacted more lives than just their own.

I had some time this weekend for reflection and realized that I am still a work in progress. There are a lot of areas of my life that need some editing. So just to quell your thirst and curiosity, here are a few things I would have done differently.

• I would spend more time in personal communication with God. More time in meaningful prayer and more time in pursuing His will for my life.
• I would listen more and talk less. Most people aren't looking for solutions they are looking for a sympathetic ear to listen. I still have a lot of work to do in this area.
• I would have focused more on the compassion side of ministry and devoted more time to helping those who others overlooked. We spend too much time in church ministering to the healthy and neglecting the sick.
• I would have provided my children a better example of how to live. I tried to teach them the right lessons about love, respect, relationships and the important things in life, but I didn't always model those lessons in the most effective way.

The nice thing about being a writer is the ability to go back and change what you have written, delete the things that don't work and allow others input into the process (that will be another blog). The great thing about life is it's not too late to change.