How about a “do-over”? Certainly there were many times on the playground, in the driveway, or in the backyard growing up where someone petitioned the group for a “do-over.”
Whether it was a close call in that backyard football game that just couldn’t be resolved (where was instant replay when we needed it?) or perhaps a relationship with a classmate that had started off on the wrong foot, I was often looking for that opportunity to start over — or at least to replay the most recent event, hoping for a different outcome.
This time of year, we are besieged with a number of different events that remind us of our Lord’s forgiving nature. Consider the beautiful winter scene of a few weeks ago with the newly-fallen snow. As David pleaded with his God in the psalm, “Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow,” (Psalm 51:7). The pristine look of a fresh snowfall is one of my favorite settings and reminds us of the opportunity the Heavenly Father daily gives us baptized saints for a “do-over.”
The beginning of the New Year also necessitates resolutions for many individuals, many of whom consider these days an opportunity for a “do-over.”
So if the budget, the waistline, or some other aspect of our lives were less than desirable in 2016, the first days of January present us with another opportunity for a clean slate in various aspects of our lives.
Students and teachers are also experiencing the newness of the beginning of the semester. Faults and failures from the first semester are no longer as relevant, and each of us in the classrooms at CLHS has an opportunity to start over with a new quarter and new opportunities.
Though none of these situations can be a perfect analogy for the forgiveness our Heavenly Father lavishes on us daily, they are indeed great earthly reminders of two things:
- Our sinful state and our need for a Savior, born in Bethlehem so many years ago, only to be crucified later to take our punishment
- The Father gives us a new beginning each day, where, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have a “do-over” and live the Christian life.
May you be reminded daily in 2017 of the forgiveness our gracious Father gives us!
~ Eric Kaschinske,
Math Teacher