I’ve had two 3-hour car rides in the past two days, by myself, and that has given me a lot of time to reflect on something that God has been pressing on my heart lately: the idea of a second chance.
We all make mistakes. We all mess up in some way or another. We all look back on situations or experiences and say “wow, I should have handled that differently” or “what was I thinking?” We regret words we’ve said, actions we have [or haven’t] taken, and thoughts that we shouldn’t have had. Nobody is perfect. [Dictionary.com defines perfect as “entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings.”]
Good thing we have a gracious and forgiving God! He knows we’re going to mess up, make mistakes, and do things we regret later on, and He loves us anyway. He embraces us, picks us up, and helps us move forward. He gives us another chance, a time for us to learn, a time for us to grow.
Usually the second time around we are most apt to follow His way. We learn that doing things on our own is not going to work, that our own human tendencies will keep us from fully doing whatever it is that God intended, and so we learn to submit to His ways. We learn to follow instead of lead, to surrender instead of trying to do things on our own.
Praise God for giving us second chances, for letting us learn from our mistakes!
