The Things I Won't Regret (Poem: March 17, 2012)
By Allan Thomasson

While I was growing up, I was
Like any other kid.
I talked the way they talked. Also,
I did the things they did.

They were my 'peers'. We all had some.
You no doubt had some, too.
And for the most part in our lives,
They 'trained' both me and you.

With just a glance from one of them,
We tend change our mind,
Because we know, that, if we don't,
They're sure to be unkind.

As I got older, my friends changed;
Their place would others fill.
I let them have their way sometimes,
Although against my will.

But as my mind developed, and
I thought more on my own,
I started thinking of the things
That help a happy home.

My mom became more right. My dad,
Well, he got smarter, too.
Can you relate to what I said?
It's good for me and you.

And what my parents taught to me
By living as they did,
They helped me know, the more I'd grow,
'No more was I that kid,'

The sound advice I heard was nice,
And made good sense, as well.
I learned good folks would go to heaven;
Bad folks went to hell.                                                Luke 16:19-24

Now 'good folks', they believe in Jesus.
Bad folks, they do not.                                                John 3:16-18
And good folks, they are God's own children;            I John 3:1-3
That's all the kids He's got.                                         John 3:3-7

You see the difference in God's kids,
And those who don't love Him,
They'll live the lives their flesh controls,
Then die in their own sin.

God gives me strength from day to day
To please Him as I go,
For I have learned: sin must be spurned,
That the Father's love may show

To those who see me day by day,
For God still keeps me yet
From doing bad things others do:                              Galatians 5:24
'The things I won't regret.'