Recently, I was a part of a group discussion where we were talking about how The Lord had sent Haggai as a messenger of hope after a group of the Lord's people had gone astray and spent many years wasted.  And, how, finally, these people could spend their years wisely after having wasted so many.

Well, this immediately got me thinking.  What is a wasted year?  And how can we consider any year in a person's life to be wasted?  It's definitely not that I disagreed with this idea, I just couldn't completely agree without thinking about it a little bit more.

Since I'm all about definitions, the definition of the word wasted is:

1  :  not used, spent, etc., in a good, useful, or effective way

So yes, I guess that if your years aren't spent in an effective way, they are wasted, but this still just bugs me.  So, the rest of this post is strictly my personal opinion.  It is neither correct, nor incorrect.  It is just my opinion and thoughts on wasted years.

Y'all, we ALL sin.  Yes, all of us.  Even the person you see to be the most Christ-like person.  Everyday we make a decision on how to live that day.  We-as humans-choose to sin on a daily basis.  It's in our nature.

But what makes us each different is how we decide to learn or grow from our sinful choices.  If we choose to remain the same, living in the same sin, then yes, I guess the years are considered wasted as long as you don't learn from the decision.

HOWEVER,

if you, after the sin, learn and grow from the bad decision, this is not a wasted moment.  Sometimes, in order to grow, you have to fall first.  I'm definitely not saying that you should go out and make a bad choice, I am saying however, that sometimes in life we get so caught up in ourselves that we don't see our own faults.  Instead we judge the people around us, when in reality, we are the one who is not following His will.  

So what will it take for us to learn that we need to change?  That is different from person to person.  In the words of a very wise father, "It's okay to fall, just don't stay fallen."  

Once again, I'm not suggesting you "fall", but I am saying that if you fall, DON'T STAY THERE.  His grace will cover you and you can come running back into His open arms!

So basically, I do not believe in wasted years, if you learn from them.

Y'all, the best thing I can say here is:

If you continue living in the same sin, you are at risk of wasting years; BUT, if you learn and grow spiritually after living in that sin, you are not wasting years , you are growing and learning from your mistakes.  Choose wisely in your everyday lives, it's your choice alone, so what will you do?

To waste or not to waste, THAT is the question!