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Sitting in my daughter-in-law Sherry’s salon chair, I was ready. “How about this cut?” she asked, showing me a picture.

“Well”… I reluctantly said, “okay.”

“And,” she said, “I’ll color your gray … and give you some blonde highlights.”

“Oooo … kkkaaayyy.” I rolled my eyes but trusted her completely. After my do-over, I hardly knew myself. My son Kyle said, “Mom, you look, ummm … seven years younger.”

Well, I could handle that.

So, there are good do-overs, and then there are times we mess up and we’d like to try again. We exclaim, “Do over!” When you offend another person and recognize it, you might ask the Lord for another chance. Then there are those missteps in our spiritual life. Our prayer time is limited, but we intend to meditate and pray more—some day. We drop five dollars in the offering plate but still get our vacation, new car, or daily cappuccino. We try to make peace with a brother or sister. Didn’t work—again.

Do you pray, “Do over, God? Please help me get it right this time.” When we fail, God allows the Holy Spirit to nudge us to action. We hear a challenging message from our pastor and ask God if we can try again to change our behavior and live as we should. My co-worker said, “The training books you assembled today were all wrong, Phyllis.” I’d been
given the latest updates, but she had not received the changes and she assumed I was wrong.

Since my director heard the interchange, I was embarrassed. This triggered a harsh inner-attitude and I knew it. I wondered why she seemed to enjoy doing this to me. I also knew my attitude was wrong, but later the Holy Spirit got my attention. 

I told the Lord, “I really want the right attitude here, please help me.”

Before long, God gave me a chance to change and I failed miserably. So I prayed, “Please give me another chance and I’ll do it right.” I made a determination. I wondered what I could focus on about this person. She was a good mother, so I fixed my mind on that and considered her motherly qualities. Doing this brought an appreciation and even a compassion for her which wasn’t there before.

God does allow numerous opportunities. His mercies are available and new every morning. Ask Him to draw your attention to any do-overs you may need. 

(Photo courtesy of morguefile and calgrin.)

(For more devotions, visit us at www.christiandevotions.us.)