First Baptist Church of Herndon

Retention and Destruction

Linda Soller | May 22, 2017

In the world of regulations there are many rules about how long you must retain documents before you destroy them. We deal with these rules all the time where I work. They become so confusing we find ourselves making charts showing this document you keep for this long unless the situation changes and then you must keep it for a different amount of time. It could be straight forward, if there weren’t so many exceptions. Sometimes you feel like the easiest answer would be keep everything forever, but you would be wrong. There are penalties for keeping things too long as well. Who knew? Those old documents just provide a breeding ground for unsolved issues and oversights.

Aren’t we lucky God has a simpler system. You mess up, you ask for forgiveness, and done. Actually, He is much better at this retention/destruction stuff than we humans are. We tend to cling to our mistakes, and to rehash our shortcomings repeatedly. Where we can’t seem to let go, He thrives on fresh starts. When we continue to make mistakes, even the same mistakes, He forgives and forgets. When it comes to retention, He is all about keeping us close forever, and not destroying us with our own shortcomings. When it comes to destruction, He is the master of letting go of the old to make room for the new. He never digs around in our past to see what he can find. Instead He holds us close to retain that amazing connection He offers each of us every day, all the time, regardless of our issues.

Make this a great week!    :o)  Linda