I was up until 4:00 this morning without any hint of sleepiness.
The culprit? That nice, hot cup of coffee I enjoyed at around 10:00 PM. Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have done it, but I ignored my better judgment and paid for it by losing a full night’s sleep. And this morning, I felt awful when it was time to drag myself out of bed. The cool draft in the house felt 10x colder. My eyes were fighting to stay closed. My reasoning ability was totally impaired (I didn’t know what day it was!). And my warm blanket was telling me to ignore all my obligations and rest my tired-well-deserving-of-another-week-of-sleep body.
Yawn.
Although pumping my blood full of sleep-stealing caffeine wasn’t the brightest idea, it’s not an earth-shattering misstep. I’ll go to bed early tonight… and choose decaf in the future if I just have to have a cup of coffee. But when it comes to more serious matters, we must strive to make wise choices with future consequences at the forefront of our mind. That way, we won’t get caught up living for the moment and suffering unnecessarily as a result.
As you’re reading today’s post, I’m sure you can think of something you knew you shouldn’t have done, but forged ahead anyway, and ended up regretting it. And the unfortunate thing about regret is that we knew better all along. You know, I’m reminded of an article that Coach Felicia Scott wrote in EEW Magazine about regret. She said:
Ignoring warning signs will lead to regret. Regret is a bitter pill to swallow. If we dig to its core, we uncover the reason behind its potency. Unlike some situations in our lives, where we can genuinely claim ignorance, regret is tied to the times when down in our guts—we knew better.
Amen to that. Let’s strive not only to “know” better, but to “do” better too.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, please help me to choose wisdom in my daily affairs by not feeding into impulses against my better judgment. I know Your will is for me to live a fruitful and productive life, so please help me to cooperate with Your plan in my everyday decisions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
