Page One

A friend of mine asked me if I think it's possible to start over. Actually, she asked all the readers of her blog. I'm posting this here because if I don't, then I will have posted nothing this week. Just looking around my apartment I have to say that I certainly hope it's possible to start over, because I see at least a dozen half-read books, with not a single bookmark among them — but seriously, while it is certainly possible to start over on a project such as reading a book or writing a paper or even building a house, is it really possible to start over on something more significant?

Starting over. Going back to the beginning and doing it all over again. It certainly sounds tempting. The idea that maybe if we had the chance, we could avoid making some of the same mistakes. Maybe we could avoid some of the hurts. Maybe if we had the chance, we could hold on to something we lost a little harder. We could forget the things that cause us pain, because they would no longer be. We could also forget our guilt, because those things would no longer be either.

Who ever wants to start over on something they feel has gone well? No, it is only when we have failed (or been failed) that we want to undo it and try again. I can think of many mistakes I have made I wish I could undo, many things I wish I had never done; I can think of some things I wish had never been done to me either. The truth is, however, that there is simply no way to go back and undo those things; they will always be. But that does not mean we cannot start over.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

By the grace of God, we are who are saved have been started over, and are being started over. We are made new creations, our past sins erased in forgiveness and reconciliation; this is the only truly fresh start to be had. That same forgiveness applies in human relationships. There is no going back to undo the hurts and failures of the past, but through forgiveness there is reconciliation.

Colossians 3:5-14
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.