Second Chances

Second chances. It's the name of a nonprofit that sends clothing to organizations servicing the poor, the title of a movie from more than 10  years back about overcoming tragedy, and more often than not, something people do in relationships against their better judgements.

As a Christian, I believe in second chances, and third, and fourth, and fifth chances...in all aspects of life.  It stems from knowing I am imperfect, but that God is still pursuing me. So how can I not believe things can change?

I started this post thinking I was writing about restarting a blog that I haven't touched in 4 years, but it is much more than that.  I feel like I am finally waking up from years of emotional and intellectual coma.  A lot has happened in 4 years.  Since my last post I have changed jobs, moved cities, and parted ways from my ex-boyfriend.  In fact, those three things all happened within a few months of each other.  Talk about change!

What followed was a rather long mourning period, as I learned what it means to be sad, the kind of sad that doesn't disappear when someone cracks a joke or when something good happens.  And that sadness slowly morphed into a type of listlessness.  Even self-imposed goals to do well at my new job and learn something new (first guitar, then swimming) did little to inspire me.  I suddenly did not have an answer for what made me happy or what I loved or who I was.

But second chances do happen.  I feel energized and curious again, about life, about God, about my potential to give something back to society, and about finding someone after my heart.  I am starting to ask myself who I want to be, not just trying to figure out who I am.

I have my family to thank for sticking with me, and God to thank for giving  me a second chance.

Enough about me, here are some "second chances" I hope you will enjoy:

People of the Second Chance - A site dedicated to people sharing stories about second chances.

The Art of Recology - I was recently in the SFO airport and passed by a beautiful collection of works by artists who turn objects scavenged from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area into pieces that delight, inspire, and call to action.

Robohands - The inspiring story of two guys located on two different continents coming together to give children with fingers the gift of being able to pick things up without spending a fortune on traditional prosthesis.  The "hands" they design can be printed on 3D printers and re-printed as children grow.

Cyrus Kabiru - the Kenyan artist who gave found objects a second chance as eyewear.

Lastly, some fun 'recycled' products:

Recycled Chair as Hangers, image from inhabitat.com

Talc powder containers as USB drivers, image from dnacreative.org

 

Oven-turned-fold-out chair, image from davison.com

Wine bottles for lamps, image from designrulz.com

CD's as CD holders, image from insidethemindofnicole.blogspot.com