What Might Have Been

“God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall. For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”
—“Maud Muller” John Greenleaf Whittier

Recently, we met with a group of business and legal professionals. In the course of our discussions, I suggested that our visitors “leave the plow” and head off to the mission field. One of them looked wistful and commented that they had thought to serve as a student missionary in their youth but decided to advance into their career as swiftly as possible. They expressed regret for that decision and lamented that now it was too late. O, what might have been!

“If every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. While men have slept, Satan has stolen a march upon us” (Christian Service, p. 86).

While our family served in India, we received more than one letter from dear friends at home who expressed that they had sensed a calling to mission service in their youth, but . . . they wanted to start a career . . . they wanted to rush through medical school . . . they got married. O, what might have been!

Far too often when we make decisions, we consider only what impact they will have on our lives. It would be far better for us to consider the impact our lives might have on others. Think of the people who have never heard the gospel before—people you are uniquely qualified to reach. Think of their eternal destiny. It may be that your witness will awaken in them a hunger for the Savior.

What about God? He has an amazing palace awaiting the arrival of His children for all eternity. But now He waits for us to prioritize Him in our lives. Someday we will stand before Him, and He may say, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Or He may say, “O, what might have been!”

You choose.

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