Every Breath Is A Second Chance

It came as a package of three, a parcel of gifts that flew my way. Separate pieces of a glorious puzzle. While cleaning our house last week I spotted gorgeous pale pink blooms adorning my mother-in-law's Christmas Cactus. How can that be? It barely got watered for two whole years? This plant kept company with nothing more than sound of birds chirping bright outside their empty home after her death. Whenever my husband checked on their house before it sold he gave it a drink, how much I never knew. I figured it stood little chance at survival. Let alone thrive and delight. While gazing at those beautiful blossoms my mind spun backward, to another cactus, one that kept me company for many years. After my mother passed I inherited her mammoth Christmas Cactus. Magnificent fuchsia-colored blooms, year after year it did not disappoint. Until the winter I left it outside, in frigid temperature and it never revived. A broken gift. Maybe this is a second chance! Maybe God is giving me a re-do! I will let husband water this one. While snapping a picture of thriving pant, I thought about a God who gives second chances, who creates beauty from ashes, who builds strength from mistakes and failures.

A few days later, as we stood in the toy section in Fred Meyer's I felt  it then, this lingering touch as I retrieved one Ninja Turtle from the shelf. "Is this the right one?" I asked my husband. He picked  one of the action figures from the display, examined it closely, yes we agreed, these were the right toys for twin grandsons. We spotted another couple choosing a higher priced version, turtles with serious slashing sai action, fantastic for four year olds. We bought two. "This feels like deja vu," I said. "We bought these already, just twenty-five years ago!" Memories of our thirty year old son enacting heroic scenarios, sound and all with Donatello and Raphael, these images flashed nostalgic, a sentimental slideshow right in the toy aisle. These Ninja Turtles resurfaced again. Will the boys love these Ninjas like son  did?  Is it weird buying these super-enhanced turtles? Where did all the years go and was it safe for son to play-act like a super-hero turtle?

We put the toys in the cart and through the day the feeling remained, like a nudge from your best friend before she shares delicious secret you think you might already know. Maybe we do get second chances, and maybe broken gifts aren't truly broken but laid to rest until another resurfaces. Like a neglected cactus that blooms at Christmas, and super-hero turtles that come back to life.

And the tea party I promised my granddaughter a few months back but forgot to set a grand table. Our plane departed and she woke recalling a broken promise, this memory that cast tears in toddler eyes. Taking advantage of second chances, I knew my China Tea Set has power of its own, to spring back to life a child now grown and those that follow to share in all that joy.

 

He nudged me that day in the toy aisle, a truth that shimmers me free, I wrap a toy, admire a bloom, and set a table for three.

 Every breath is a second chance...