A New Chance

A few days ago, I was at the sea. I got up early in the morning and went to the beach – waiting for the sun to rise. The sky was clear and painted in a light grey and the water was calm like a table of glass you might think, you could walk on to the end of the horizon.

For a moment, I looked back, and when I turned – there she was. She had risen without me taking notice, clothed in her beautiful shining, red dress. She made no noise, no big announcement, she just appeared.

In this second, it struck me, what a wonder this is. The sun gave me a new chance. She didn’t remember the former days. She just gave me a new day, a new page in the book of my life, with no words written on it yet. I didn’t ask her to, she just did.

That’s what she always does, till this very day. While millions of people – me included – most of the time don’t even realize what a wonder and privilege this is. A new beginning, a new start, over and over and over again. Not looking back, just giving us a new canvas to paint life on.

We are occupied with our little problems and sorrows, this little itch here, that thing that didn’t turn out as we planed there, this person who was mean to us… In the meantime we let days pass without realizing, that grace is new every morning. That life itself is a wonder, day after day, and a chance to make things better. To change things, in our own life, in the life of our family and friends. To smile at life, like the sun smiles at us, morning after morning.

She has forgotten what she saw the other day on the face of the earth – decided to give it another try. I am willing to do the same. Forget what lies behind me, looking forward, making the best of the day that was given to me as a gift from god.