One of Kara’s classes is to put on three short Spanish plays. Kara is doing all the music and sound effects, and last night was the dress rehearsal. In a critical part of the play with timpani rolls, canon shots, horse gallops, and sword clashes, she had a bit of a screw up. With the limited technology before her, switching all the sounds with fades and at the right time is not trivial. She came home quite disappointed with how it went. I could tell it was replaying in her mind. After relaying the series of events to me, she started thinking about how it could be done more easily so there was less margin for error. She knew she had another chance, and she wanted to take full advantage of it. Running the risk of same screw up for a “real” performance of the play would have been unacceptable. Kara’s hard work in preparing paid off though, and she was a much happier camper tonight when I picked her up. As she shared and felt: practice makes perfect.
This is so true in daily lives. How important it is to get another chance, especially after screwing up. Dignity is built when we fail at first but succeed later. Dignity is stolen when we fail once and never get a chance again. Imagine what it would it would have been like for Peter when Christ has his one on one with Peter if Christ didn’t give him a chance to affirm his love for Christ and if Christ had withheld the commission to “feed my sheep”.
I’m very thankful for the second chances I get in marriage. I hope that I will recall the mental notes I make to be encouraging, to offer my shoulder and not a lecture, to understand and not to solve. I see these second chances pay off. I am getting better as husband, but I admittedly have a long way to go. Tomorrow (Saturday) is a second chance for me, as I have been doing a poor job on Saturdays of living with God. I tend to get up ambitious to get as many personal things done as possible (e.g. finances, cleaning,, yard work, email, etc.). Time with God to study/pray and serving hardly enter the agenda. Tomorrow is another try to do better. I’m poised; I’m going to!
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