Do-over?

Do-over?  I can have a do-over? 

Yes!  I’m in! 

I’m a big fan of the do-over.  A fresh start.   A clean page.  A new day. The do-over is an everyday occurrence.  I get the opportunity to start fresh with a clean page every day—and so do you.  

Here are some of the experiences I’ve had that remind me that I’m quite experienced with do-overs.

I’m a long-haul student.  By that, I mean that when I’ve begun a degree program, I know I’m in it for the long haul.  It took me thirteen years to complete my bachelor’s degree.  I began at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  I met my husband while there, left after only two years, and followed him wherever the Air Force stationed him.  Wherever we were stationed, I took whatever courses I could.  In Japan and then Germany, I studied at extension sites of the University of Maryland.  In South Dakota, I took courses at what was then Black Hills State College.  I threw in a correspondence course at Taylor University.  I came out alive with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Louisiana State University.  It only took five years to earn my master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  That felt like a sprint.

My work history is just as checkered.  In high school and college, I worked as a bagger and cashier at High-Low Foods (“High Quality, Low Prices”) in suburban Chicago.  After marriage, I did some freelance childcare work, moving into people’s homes to care for their children while they traveled around Europe.  I sold Avon (a disastrous choice on my part).  I worked as a Girl Friday for the Manager of a real estate company.  I owned my own craft business and worked as the manager of a craft cooperative.  I contracted as a technical writer/editor and was then hired on as regular employee.  Finally, I spent a couple of decades as the Director of Christian Education at the church my family attended. 

The biggest do-over I’ve experienced is spiritual.  I attended church when I was a child but quit when I went to college.  I floated along for quite some time, not going to any church and not interested in going to any church.  Then some friends invited us to come along with them.  When we did, we discovered a group of people with whom we wanted to spend time.  Then, in the vein of discovering new things, I experienced the Lord’s call on my life and came to faith.  That was life-changing, an understatement if ever there was one.

What I learned along the way is that God is in the business of the do-over.  Isaiah 43:18-19 tells us:  “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”  Paul adds this is 2 Corinthians 5:17:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Questions for you:  Where have you experienced do-overs?  Where do you want to start a do-over in your life?