We Repeat What We Do Not Repair

Hey team! Here we are again. I love getting together with you and spending a little bit of time sharing what’s on my mind and what’s on my heart. I read this quote in the last couple of weeks, and it said, “We repeat what we do not repair.” It resonated with me because I look back on my life, all 249 years of it, and I realize that I have repeated time and time again. Sometimes still do, the things I have not repaired in my life.

How many of you, if you take inventory, can relate? It’s just you and me here right now, and I’m sharing with you. How many of you look back on some relationships or a situation in your life and realize you’ve repeated that same thing? That same action, time and time again? You’ve had the same situation. The faces sometimes change, and the names are different. But it’s the same situation, the same kind of argument with the same kind of person.

I’ve seen people hop from job to job thinking they’re going to escape the problem, but the problem is there again, staring them in the face because they repeat what they don’t repair in that situation. Sometimes it’s us, right? Sometimes the repair is on our side of the fence. I know some of you are sitting there going, “No, Chad, it was their fault.” Yeah, I hear you, but you seem to keep repeating it. If the only common denominator in a situation is you, then at some point the repair must take place in you.

This is a hard thing for all of us to recognize sometimes or admit to, but if you admit it, then there’s hope. There’s a chance for change to take place because you’re looking at repairing the problem. Again, sometimes it’s our own intellect. I’m not saying that the argument you’re having with your wife today, or with your children, or with your boss, or your supervisor doesn’t have an element that they need to repair on their side. But the only thing you can truly fix is you. You can’t fix them.

I can’t fix my relationship with Karen by telling her to change, I can’t fix my relationship with my boys by telling them to change. I need to take an inward look at me—where do I need change? Where do I need repair? Where do I need the fix? If you’re looking at those things, then you start making changes, and all of a sudden, repair starts to happen, and you fix it.

I remember back when I was a young man in the Marine Corps. There was a Christian band called Petra, and they had a song with this line in the lyrics: “The test will last as long as it takes to pass.” I have come to realize that in my life, I have not passed the test sometimes—more times than I would like to think—and I have had to take it again and again, sometimes with the same person, the same relationship, the same situation, or the same job. Sometimes, it’s a different job, different people, different time, and different place, but the test was the same. It was just a little bit different, but there were a lot of similarities because I was the common denominator that needed the change, that needed repair.

As you go through this week, take inventory of what needs to be repaired in your life, in your situation. What test have you been taking time and time again, and you find yourself taking it again? It will last as long as it takes to pass. You’ve got to repair if you want it to be fixed.

Alright, God bless you guys. You have a wonderful week. Remember, let’s be valuable because nothing less will do, and think about the repair. What repairs are needed? Work on those things. Give me a shout-out, tell me what’s going on in your life, share it with me. I’m happy to work with you. If I seem to be your problem, I’m still working on my repair, and I apologize upfront for being the situation that I’ve brought into your life. I’m working on my fixes—let’s work on them together.

Alright, God bless you guys. Have a wonderful week. I’ll see you next week.