The Magical Do-Over | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Magical Do-Over | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ken Grant
01/12/22
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I’m a person who is prone to lose my way, getting caught up in the busy pace of life, and therefore I’m someone who deeply appreciates the concept of a do-over. I take every opportunity, whether it be the beginning of a month, the beginning of a week, or even the beginning of a day to restart and establish a better rhythm of positive habits to enhance my quality of life. Much of this behavior is rooted in my perfectionist tendencies. My mother was a perfectionist and I inherited many of her traits for good or ill. Striving to be the best in any endeavor can be a great motivator for success, but it does come with its unique challenges. The inability to accept mistakes or the tendency to rehearse past lapses can lead to not being able to move forward in the present. In addition, fear of coming up short is an important blockage to being able to take on new challenges or to learn new skills. No one is good at everything and pushing forward very often involves struggling with the process of learning and growing in one’s personal abilities.

A new year is the ultimate do-over. Very often people, I being one, make resolutions and determine to do better this time. There is a natural energy that comes from starting from scratch and beginning anew without the weight of disappointment from past failures. It’s a clean slate that holds endless possibilities and the future seems just that much brighter. At my church, like many churches, the beginning of a new year is an opportunity to introduce a Bible reading plan. People eagerly commit to reading the Bible on a regular basis and looking forward to the benefits of doing so. Such beginnings are filled with excitement and hope, but as the challenges of life and the challenges of time increase, such commitments often fall by the way side. A familiar comment is that once a person gets behind on their reading they would rather quit than to deal with the inability to keep up the pace of a commitment made in a moment. I’m familiar with the pain of falling short and the desire to just give up as a result.

Over the last year I was part of a church merger so as the year changed I was challenged to take up a new Bible reading plan and I did so with some trepidation, but with renewed confidence. The first few days went well, but then work and other challenges intervened and I fell behind. I was frustrated initially, but committed to a new way of thinking. While the do-over can be magical, it doesn’t maintain itself over the long term. What does is the willingness to accept that I will not always keep up the pace, but that there is always time to make things right. A Bible reading plan, like the Christian life in total, is a marathon, not a sprint, and involves the ups and downs that are inevitable over time. I am learning to accept my faults, move past them, and keep going. I’m still behind, but not so far that I cannot reach my goal, and that is what truly matters. I serve a God who is the master of the do-over, the Apostles Peter and Paul are well-known examples, and I intend to keep going with the reminder that He wants nothing more than to look down and me and smile.

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