A newspaper asked its readers to send in responses to the question: “If you could have back one hour of your past, which hour would it be?” As could be expected, readers sent in a wide variety of answers. Some people wanted to relive hours of good times, but others wanted to redo hours in which major mistakes were made.

I myself would have had a difficult time responding to the question due to the fact that I have memorable hours from both categories. If push came to shove, though, I think that I would choose to redo an hour in which I made a poor decision. I’ve never been the type to say, “I wouldn’t change anything about my past because it all worked together to make me the person I am right now.” No, as I see it, if one of my mistakes could be rectified, I’d like to rectify it.

Of course, the whole purpose of the newspaper’s exercise was futile anyway, right? No matter how much we’d like to somehow revisit the past, we can’t. All of that history, either for the good or the bad, is engraved upon our permanent record for this life. If the history was good, we can be thankful for it. If it was bad, we can learn from it. But what we cannot do is change it.

It has often been pointed out that God calls Himself “I AM” (Exodus 3:13-14; John 8:58). That’s different than calling Himself “I WAS” or “I WILL BE.” “I WAS” would place Him in the past, and “I WILL BE” would place Him in the future, but “I AM” places Him firmly in the present. And that is where He wants you to join Him. He has business that He wants to do with you today. He has blessings that He wants to bestow upon you today. He has work that He wants you to do for Him today. So look around you right now and appreciate all the beauty and wonder of what is happening today. Then join Him in the present moment and live it to the fullest with Him.