It’s the first day of a brand new month. Not only that, but here in Middle Tennessee, the weather’s getting warmer, the sun is shining, and it feels like we’re getting another chance to start over. In case your personal renovation plan announced a month ago hasn’t been working out so well, we can just declare February 1, 2025 to be a day for second chances. 

It reminds me of when I used to play golf. Though it isn’t found in the list of official rules for the game, there’s something called a “mulligan” that most of the guys I played with allowed, and it came to mind as I thought about the welcome warmth and the sunlit, optimistic feeling this new month finally seems to be bringing with it. 

For Non-Golfers ~
In case you’re not a golfer, getting a “mulligan” meant that you got a second chance if you flubbed your first shot off the tee box. It offered hope to guys like me whose drive often ended up in places where no self-respecting golf ball should ever be found, unless, of course, it belonged to one of my opponents. Unfortunately, my golfing skills rarely improved in the interim between the two attempts, but at least the mulligan gave me an opportunity to try again. There was always the possibility that God would intervene and help me perform more like an accomplished golfer and less like somebody doing a warm-up routine for a game of Twister. 

Opportunities to start over can show up in our lives in pleasant, hopeful ways, like a warm sunny day in February – or maybe even a much needed mulligan on the golf course, but they don’t always come dressed like that. Sometimes starting over is the result of events and circumstances invading our lives that we didn’t want and wouldn’t have chosen. Starting over is often accompanied by bitter tears, inexpressible grief, funeral attire, and a deep desire not to have to do it. But, in the goodness of God, it was just that … the endless grief, the eternal loss that crept into the Garden along with the serpent, that moved the heart of the living God to create a way to ‘begin again’. And He did more than just create  the concept. He uses it masterfully. God uses new beginnings to change lives and make this dark, awful world shine brighter than we ever thought it could. 

Not So Bright for Some ~
As we head into this new month, there are many to whom the world doesn’t seem bright at all, and some may feel as though the source for much of its brightness is gone for good. All of us are aware that a mid-air collision at Reagan International airport instantly snatched away the lives of 67 people aboard the two aircraft involved, and all of them left others behind who are facing a loss they never expected. And as I write this, we’re hearing of yet another flight that has just horrifically crashed in Philadelphia near the Roosevelt Mall, taking the lives of six on board and possibly others on the ground. In addition to that, many of us may be aware of situations much closer to home in which people we know and love are faced with circumstances that feel like having to start over. 

For instance, a few weeks ago, one of our next-door neighbors lost her husband. With no warning, in one single night, virtually everything in her life changed. The hand she held, the shoulder she cried on, and the strength she counted on when hers failed was gone. The voice that joined hers in praise and the laugh that made everything funnier was gone. The one whose compliments always made her feel prettier and whose approval always made her feel more confident couldn’t do that for her anymore. The one she would have died for, and possibly wishes she had died with, had died without her. Her partner, lover, helper, friend, and faithful co-laborer in the ministries they shared was gone. For her, and those who share similar circumstances, starting over feels nothing short of awful.

An Underestimated Loss ~
Another treasured friend had a loss this week that some would grossly underestimate. She lost a little four-legged, furry companion who was so much more than a “pet”. For 16 years, he had been her confidant, her encourager, one who loved her unconditionally, who would never betray her, who was never emotionally unavailable to her, and who accompanied her every morning to share her prayer walk time with God … That was gone now. He was always there, ready for hugs and dancing in her happiest times, and when disappointments came and she couldn’t understand where God was leading her, he was there to nuzzle and snuggle with her for as long as it took. So for her, starting a new month, or anything else, without him looks emptier, lonelier, and less appealing now than it was before. 

But even when new beginnings aren’t so dramatic and challenging, they always have spiritual implications, and God wants to be involved. Sometimes He purposefully inserts events into our lives that lead to new beginnings, but either way, God is never just a passive observer. To make that point clear, God sent Jeremiah on a field trip. Here’s how it went:

“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. (Jeremiah 18:2–4 NKJV) 

In the passage above, the vessel God was working on was Israel. His people had been rebellious and disobedient, and God was allowing their enemies to invade and subjugate them. Their world was being turned upside down, and they didn’t understand. To use the potter’s terminology, Israel as a nation had been marred – ruined, reduced to a non-functional wad of clay. It was an awful time for them . . . but God was offering a new beginning. The takeaway God wanted Jeremiah and the rest of us to see was that God’s hands were involved throughout the process. The One who set them apart for Himself was able to reshape them into the vessel He had chosen them to be. But the picture God painted for Jeremiah was not just for His people as a collective whole. Another one of His prophets made it clear that the lesson applies to each of us individually. Isaiah put it like this:

But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8 NKJV)

The simple point we want to emphasize as we begin a brand new month is that regardless of whether it finds us dancing in the expectation of good news and better days, living out the trauma of an irreplaceable loss, or thinking that it’s just another day, God is never uninvolved. He wants to make it a new beginning, a time for starting over. The One whose original coming was heralded as good news is still bringing it. Every morning anew, He waits to greet us with an offer to take a mulligan.

God wants to wrap all of yesterday’s gains and losses, all of our successes and failures, and all our dreams and nightmares into the shape of the vessel He intended us to be. He sees every day as a time to start over. Difficult times will always be out there somewhere, but Jesus offers His heart to share our pain, His hands to help lift our burdens, His truth to dispel our confusion, and His presence to fill our emptiness. Jesus directed us to pray that His Kingdom would come and that His will would be done, and today He’s calling us to take another shot at making that happen. So, let’s make February 1st a day when we join with Jesus and take another shot at helping to make the world, and ourselves, better today than yesterday.

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to Tweet & Share from the pull quotes below. Each quote links directly to this article through Twitter.

• • • God offered a new beginning for the Israelites. The One who set them apart for Himself was able to reshape them into the vessel He chose them to be. He was involved throughout the process. But it wasn’t ‘just’ for His people as a collective whole. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • As we begin a new month, regardless of whether we’re dancing in expectation of good news and better days, living the trauma of an unthinkable loss, or thinking it’s just another day, God is never ‘uninvolved’. He wants to make it a new beginning. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • God is never uninvolved. He wants to make it a new beginning, a time for starting over. The One whose original coming was heralded as good news is still bringing it. Every morning anew, He waits to greet us with an offer to ‘take a mulligan’. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • God wants to wrap all of yesterday’s gains and losses, all our successes and failures, and all our dreams and nightmares into the shape of the vessel He intended us to be. He sees every day as a time to start over. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

To follow this blog for more “Right Side Up Thinking ~ In an Upside Down World” … Sign up just below the Search box in the upper right sidebar for regular email notifications of new posts.

Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth” 

 The Kindle e-version is just $1.99. No Kindle device is needed. E-book readers are included on most computers, tablets, and smartphones. If you don’t have one, the free Kindle app can be easily downloaded directly from the Amazon site on almost any device.

Click here for a “Look Inside” preview at Amazon.

© 2025 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.