YOLO. You Only Live Once. Hmm.
I disagree.
There has always been something about this trendy acronym that has bothered me. It seems more accurate to me that the saying should go, YODO – You Only Die Once.
See, we live everyday. Each day we wake up, we live again. Everyday, every hour, every moment we live. Each sunrise brings new opportunity for life. Each sunset brings new opportunity for rest. We can choose from day to day, hour to hour, moment to moment how we live. Will we be exactly as we were, or will we seek to change? Will we leave behind things that we know are detrimental to us, or will we continue living in those things? We get to choose.
We get to choose. In life, we get to choose.
We don’t get to choose in death. No, death is not up to us. When? How? Where? We don’t get to know the answers to those questions. What we do know is that death of our earthly bodies is final. It’s final. It’s the end. There are no do-overs in death. Once your body dies, it’s dead. Period.
But in life, there are endless do-overs.
Praise! We get do-overs! Let that sink in for just a moment.
As long as we live, we get the chance to right every wrong, correct every mistake. We get the chance to change our minds, redirect our goals, alter our paths. As long as we live, we live.
As I get older, my priorities are ever changing. More and more, my mind is set on God, and less on the world. My spirit longs to be with Him. I find myself counting down the minutes until I can be alone with Him. Alone to pray, sing, hear. With my God. As I listen to Him, He makes things clear. He shows me the things that I need to change. He gives me opportunity for a do-over. Because I live another day, I get to go back and correct past mistakes.
Just yesterday, as I was driving, I began thinking about a time when I made fun of my daughter right in front of her. I thought it was so funny at the time, but thinking back on it, I realize how cruel that was. I can picture her face when she realized I was laughing at her. I bet it totally embarrassed her, hurt her feelings, made her mad, broke her heart. Whatever her emotion, it couldn’t have been good. I’m her mother. I’m supposed to love and protect her. But instead, I laughed. Thankfully, I live. I live so I am able to show my daughter love and respect, just as I should. I get a do-over.
Thank You, God!
I’m not perfect – far from it, in fact. I need second chances. I need to live again, and again, and again. How about you? Do you need to live again? Is there something you need to fix? Let our goal be to live anew with the blessing of each new day. Go out and claim your do-overs.