A Second Chance

On Saturday August 31^st 2013 at around 9:30 am God decided to give me a second chance. Yes, somewhere along the Cairo – Alex desert road God decided to give me and my family a second chance in living. I still remember everything, how it happened, how we almost ran out of life, people gathering offering help, but most sorrowfully the mess that was I and my car. A year has passed and I still can’t shake that feeling off, the feeling that it would have been me who could have caused harm to my family. It was as if I have been entranced; detached from my body and watching from above. I was dazing at the way the car was swaying along the road, how miraculously I was able to avoid going into a speeding truck, and on the hit and run car that didn’t bother to stop! On that moment at the road looking at my bruised family and my cluttered car I felt as vulnerable as I have never felt before.

Going through such an experience allows you to reconsider your life. It’s an important moment for you and the people that surround you. Will you accept God’s will and believe that there must be good behind the bad? Will the people around you live up to the test? The test of showing love and support!! Will you find out that you have chosen well? Will you seize the chance you have been offered? The chance of starting anew!

All those wonderings came rushing into my head and I came to believe that there was good after the bad for me. Accepting God’s will was the start for passing the test I was undertaking and I would like to believe that I did well. I came to know that we don’t own life as we like to think we do and that it can easily be taken away from us. I was taught few things which are really important. I learned that you may not have a second chance to say what you wanted to say, so spell it out while you have the time for it. I learned to always take time to evaluate your life and think about how you are running it and whether this is what you want or not. It’s never ever too late to start living, to start doing the things you love, or live your life the way you have always wanted to live it. I also learned that such moments help in defining the people you live with. You will get to know the friend from the foe, the real thing from the fake one, the “for better or worse” friend. And you will end up with a major reevaluation of your world. Do you still want to live in that world? Or would you prefer building a new one?

I can’t say that I’m scars-free; I still have few. I still get irritated while driving sometimes, or when a car gets too close to me in order to pass me by. I didn’t drive on the road since then and I started to believe that I developed a weak heart as a friend tells me sometimes (you know who you are). I can’t completely forgive that hit and run driver, and I’m trying to find a way to forgive him/her. I still have a broken heart that needs mending. But with what my soul is carrying I deeply wish that I have lived up to my second chance and that I didn’t disappoint God in me.

I know that I still need some tweaking; that I still need to work on me to become a better version of myself. I’m grateful for my second chance, the chance that permitted me to know me better and to know what I was made of. The chance that allowed me to appreciate life and be thankful for all the blessings God sends along my way. To the disappointments which taught me lessons that I wouldn’t have been taught otherwise. To the moments that filled my life with happiness. And most importantly to the people who brought meaning to your life.

Always be thankful for the small things before the big ones. Appreciate what you have been given and have faith in God’s plan for you.