There is a scene in “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal, where the three friends are discussing how hard life has been. As they talk about their buddy’s recent divorce they bring up the principle of the “do over”. In baseball sometimes things didn’t happen right in the game or a call was too close to agree upon. They would then declare a “do over” and replay the play. They felt that could be applied to life in general.
Second chances are something God often allows. Abraham blows it when he tries to hide behind his wife, Sara as his sister. David really blows it when he sleeps with his neighbors wife and then sends him to his death. Paul picks the wrong side in the religious struggles of his time and gets knocked off his horse.
I have experienced the largest “do over” in my marriage to Paula. Married to my first wife at the ripe old age of 20, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. I didn’t even know enough about life and women to be even classified as ignorant. I hadn’t lived any real life yet. After much trauma and suffering, I found the perfect wife for me. God seemed to guide me to her and the proof has been in the pudding ever since.
So is it always God’s plan to have a “do over”? I believe it is, but it also very much depends what you do with it. God forgives every one of us for the dumb things we do, the selfish things we do, and even the good things we don’t do. That is available to us all whenever we turn to Him. But what we do with that forgiveness, that “do over” is as important as turning to it in the first place. If we see it as a chance to straighten out our lives, do the right things, “get it right”, finally follow the rules, our life might get better but we will have missed the point. We are made to connect with God, speak to Him, hear Him speak to us, follow Him; in essence walk with Him. That is the point. It isn’t about following the rules. It is about following our God. As C. S. Lewis, the great Christian writer once said, “A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.”
It is not about following rules. If we follow the Living God we will obey the rules that are really important. We will then find the energy in our lives we really need for our “do overs” in life.
