Another Chance to Live

 

I don’t remember everyone I’ve loved.
But I remember who taught me silence, who made laughter feel unsafe, who left softness behind like a fingerprint.

We live in a moment where everything seems to be passing away; not just people, but memories, moments, and entire seasons of our lives. The things we wish we had handled better. The people we wish we hadn’t pushed away. The paths we wish we had chosen differently. Sometimes I wonder if, had we managed things better, we would be living the lives we once dreamed of.

But would things really have turned out the way we imagined?
Yes? No? Maybe.

What stays with us are the regrets, the pain, the time we feel we wasted, and even the pain we wasted. And the questions grow heavier with time: how do we move on from all of this? How do we forgive ourselves? How do we let go without feeling like we’re abandoning who we once were?

How do we allow something new, something better, to begin?

Do we still have the privilege of fulfilling our childhood and teenage dreams, or have those versions of us quietly expired? And if they have, what do we want now? Who are we becoming when memory stops hurting and starts teaching?

Maybe remembering isn’t about holding on.
Maybe it’s about learning what to carry forward, and what to finally leave behind.

And maybe this is why we make resolutions every year: because we are given another chance to live. Another chance to make things right, to fix what was broken, and to fight for what is rightfully ours. Simply being alive becomes a reason to keep going, to live with hope, and to choose what is right, even when it’s difficult.

A priest said on New Year’s Eve that crossing over into a new year is like sitting an exam and being promoted to the next level. Not everyone was given that chance, not because we are better than those who didn’t make it, and not because it was necessarily their time. We are here simply because we were graced to be.

And because of that grace, living should never be careless.

As long as we are still here, we should remain grateful, thankful, and intentional, always striving to do the right thing. Not out of fear, but out of awareness. Because this year, like every other, is not guaranteed. It could be our last.

So while we are still here, still breathing, still becoming;
what kind of life do we want to be remembered for?