Another chance to create magic.
These words can create magic in people’s hearts: “You have another chance.”
Aren’t there times we all need to hear those words spoken?
It implies not only forgiveness for a past failure and encouragement to do better, but also that the human spirit can rise above a bestial level of existence. How many animals grant “another chance” to fellow animals?
Punishment of some form or another, where “getting another chance” is not an option, will always exist. And in some cases, “another chance” is not warranted.
More often, though, saying to someone, “You have another chance” is precisely what’s needed to create an atmosphere of renewal and the confidence to try again.
• Getting another chance does not mean erasing an earlier failure, it does something much more important: It means transcending it, rendering that failure as a relatively unimportant event in the grand scheme of things.
• Getting another chance elevates hope over fear, faith over doubt, optimism over pessimism.
• Getting another chance makes the future more important than the past, and the present the most important of all.
• Getting another chance requires inspired vision, and cannot survive short-sightedness. One must be able to see clearly what good another chance might produce, then go about using the opportunity to realize the vision.
• Getting another chance creates feelings of gratitude and responsibility, for who wants to squander “another chance”?
It puts the pressure where it belongs: On the person getting another chance. Now they must make the most of it.
• Getting another chance is, after all, what we want for ourselves and grant to ourselves all of the time, whenever we can manage it.
We go from one diet and/or exercise program to another. We stop and start bad habits over and over. We make a mistake and it goes unnoticed.
In each case, “another chance” was achieved.
This is a good time to say “you have another chance” to someone you care about, so don’t miss the opportunity. A new season is just under way, and you will feel better because you reached out.
Here are a few examples where it might be not only an appropriate thing to say but also a desperately needed one:
• To a child who is struggling to learn about how the world works and makes plenty of mistakes along the way. Whether five or ten or 15 years old, they need lots of “other chances” to show that they can overcome the obstacles and realities life throws at them.
• To children struggling through another school year, who need to be reminded that they always have another chance to earn better grades or make new friends. It might take special effort to help them accomplish this, but no child should ever be left with the impression that making low grades or having few friends is a permanent condition. The start of each new grading period creates “another chance” to wipe the slate clean from past grades and form new study habits and friendships.
• To a brother or sister (no matter what age), who, after all, is the blood relative you will have for the longest period of time (usually) in a life. Siblings often need another chance to work out a relationship with each other beyond that of when they were children together.
• To a friend who has done you some wrong, who needs another chance to feel welcomed back into your circle of warmth and friendship. Most often, the most basic of misunderstandings is at the heart of a wounded friendship anyway, and all that’s needed is another chance to talk about it.
• To a boyfriend or girlfriend who hurt your feelings but now more fully accepts and understands you and needs another chance to prove it. There’s so much to learn during a courtship, and so many opportunities to make a mistake. Two people learning how to love one another is perhaps the most difficult challenge in life.
• To a husband or wife who has made both lots of little mistakes and a few big ones over the years yet still keeps a flame burning for the love you shared through that time. Getting another chance can pave the way for a redefining of the relationship in the glow of true affection.
• Getting another chance is spiritual, not temporal, in nature, and therein lies its power to transform lives.
“You have another chance.”
It’s powerful magic.###
