What We Throw Away (05/31/2024)

This past week, my husband, Ken, was driving somewhere in town and spotted a man rolling a lawn mower to the curb. Ken stopped and asked about it. The man disgustedly told him it was only 3 years old, and it just quit working. He told Ken to take it if he wanted; the man was putting it on the curb because he was done with it. So, Ken took it.

He took it to my daughter’s garage close by. He checked a couple things and then found that the air filter was completely clogged. He cleaned it out. And then he tried to start the mower. It started right up. He’s been working on it since then, changing out things as regular maintenance demands. It’s running great.

I was thinking about that mower and the previous owner’s abandonment of it when it wasn’t working. It spoke to me of our “disposable society.” We tend to get rid of a lot of things that previous generations would have tried to fix, hoping to give it another chance. Then I thought of people I have known who have needed another chance, an adjustment for sure, but that is only possible if one is given a second chance. We only get the second chances that people give us.

The LORD gives us those daily when we fail to walk in His footsteps, when we fail to love authentically, when we fail to become the ones we’re created to be because we find some reward in being the ones we want to be. But the LORD gives us the chance to turn, to change, to convert, to return, to humbly admit our dependence and to seek that which we need, namely, the LORD’s help. How I thank the LORD for those because I’ve claimed that gift so frequently.

The LORD forgives us and gives us what we need to change if we open ourselves to His love and His graces and gifts. The question isn’t whether or not there are second chances in this life; the question is whether or not we will seek them because they involve admitting our needs. Our insistence upon self-reliance can speed up our downfall.

The mower also made me realize how many people have given me second chances in my lifetime, sometimes because I got it totally wrong and needed to be forgiven and sometimes because I’m not a done muffin yet and still needed some fine tuning, some bake time.

How different would the world be if second chances were ordinary, the way we operate?

As we journey on in faith, hope and charity, let us maintain our humility and reliance upon the LORD who created us, who redeemed us, and who guides us day in and day out. Let us continue to seek the LORD’s help as we continue to seek to grow into the ones we are created to be and called to be, knowing that the LORD gives us second chances. And let us freely and lovingly give second chances who accompany us along the way.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.