By: Iyo_Embong

An ancient Philosopher offered this interesting observation: “If we could be twice young and twice old, we could correct all our mistakes.”

There is no real assurance that this is so,  because too many of us repeat our own errors,  even when we know better.  But sometimes we well may wonder why we have to live so long before we learn to live.

There are many things we might wish we had learned sooner instead of later in life. There are many mistakes and misunderstandings along the way:  mistakes of judgment,  bad beginnings, false steps,  lost time,  and unpromising pursuits. There are strained relationships between people who have every natural reason to keep close, but who have differed and drifted apart. There are…errors of understanding, quarrels, prejudices, unwise actions, and unwise utterances.

And then sometime, somewhere along the way we learn somehow… to misjudge less, to understand more; to be more charitable, to live with less friction, with less resentment, with less quick condemnation. Somewhere, sometime, somehow along the way we are likely to acquire ‘more’ patience and understanding in our hearts. But well we may wish that we had learned some things sooner instead of later in life.

Of course,  some do learn them sooner. Some seem to mellow and to mature in judgment and wisdom and understanding earlier than others.  But many of us live a long time before we seem to learn some of the fairly simple things that could have made life easier and finer for us and for others also. But as to living so long before we learn to live: This, no doubt, is one of life’s principal purposes… ‘to live – and to learn‘.

We can’t go back! – not any of us, not at any time.  But with an immortal future before us, we can go forward with the assurance that nothing we have really learned is ever lost. And our failures and faltering are in part growing pains.

“If we could be twice young and twice old” could we correct all our mistakes? It isn’t likely!. And anyway that isn’t the way a loving Father has let us live. But we can face the future with an assured faith that somewhere along the everlasting journey we shall know that… the groping,  the,  reaching,  the wondering, the trying and failing,  and trying again, honestly and earnestly, will prove to be worth more than all the effort – and the future will justify our faith.

By: Iyo_Embong