When my daughter was little, I ran across James Dobson’s book The Strong Willed Child. Two pages into the introduction, I laughed and said, “Yeah, I think he wrote this specifically about my kid!” Add in a speech disorder that made her words come out jumbled, and we often found ourselves in a verbal tug-of-war.

On one particular day, things got heated. My daughter was getting madder and madder about not getting her way, and I was getting more than a little fed up at our lack of ability to communicate and come to a meeting of the minds.

Finally, she just burst into tears. I looked at her little face, which had turned from frowny to sad, and my mother’s heart just broke for her. She had dug herself into a hole so deep that she just couldn’t get out, so she just sat there and cried in despair. She was beside herself and didn’t know what to do next.

I looked over at her and softly asked, “How about we start the day over again? Would you like that?” “Yes please,” she responded quietly.

This was the start of something special in our relationship: the “do-over.” It’s something she knows she can ask for when she knows she has messed up and wants to make amends, but doesn’t know where to start. It’s the gift of grace.

How often in our own lives do we come to the end of ourselves, realizing what a mess we have made?  Just as my daughter needs me to occasionally grant her a do-over, we sometimes need a do-over of our own. Praise the Lord, we have the freedom to ask for one, thanks to the grace offered through Jesus Christ.

God gives us the freedom to make our own choices – good and bad – but He also gives us the freedom to come to His throne of grace to repent and do things differently going forward. It’s never too late for a second chance.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23

“David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” – 2 Samuel 12:13

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17