Second Chances by Dr. Juan Harrison
Second Chances
If you live long enough, you’ll probably have one of those. At the top of the list might be a word, phone call, or visit with a doctor about yourself or a close loved one. Much of your future life as you waited in anticipation for a reprieve or possibly a less favorable result from the visit helped serve as a life marker that we measure from. Some refer to it as before and after. Going down the list you might have had a meeting to discuss what you thought was a promotion but ended up a termination.
Some events cast a shadow over the rest of your life. No one truly gets over a divorce. You may marry again but back there in the corner of your mind it pops up to remind you of past hurts. You’re thankful for any offspring that wouldn’t have existed without that union, but you hopefully have found new love to help wash away the bad memories.
Every challenging experience changes us. We grow stronger and wiser, or we become weaker and more vulnerable to future hurts. Mostly we’re glad to have survived a tough experience, but in moments of quiet meditation we may silently be able to be thankful for having survived the ordeal.
For some of us older folks we’re fighting some long fights with short sticks. Daily we’re reminded of our closest companion Mr. Pain. We’re thankful for the time when he takes a break and leaves us alone. He may never really leave us, but good days feel twice as good.
Some people say life’s challenges develop character. Others say it reveals it. The Bible says the rain falls on the just and the unjust. The bumper sticker says stuff happens or something like that. We do know that happiness is pretty much a personal choice. It seems like a person who focuses on the blessings in their life and demonstrates gratefulness to their Maker will ultimately have a more positive outlook on life.
The last and most important underlying girder in building a life with a positive outlook is having a faith in powers more powerful than our ordinary lives. Through good times and bad a personal faith can help us when we’re down and realize where true happiness and joy come from. If we totally focused on ourselves, we could put too little value on the miracles in our lives and too much attention on our failures and shortcomings in our lives. Perspective. We must keep a balanced life supported by faith in something outside us. Otherwise, as more people, particularly young ones, lose all hope and reason to live, we could act rashly and miss the rest of what might become a beautiful life. We must not focus on failure. If God did, He wouldn’t have anybody left to call His own. Thank goodness for second chances.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
