•Not everyone gets to rewrite the Story

Second chances are not rights, they are rare gifts stamped with grace, wrapped in time, and handed to those divinity hasn’t given up on. In parenting, love, or leadership, a second chance isn’t just a moment it’s a mirror. What we do with it says everything about who we’ve become.

For some, it comes as a quiet knock,a phone call after years of silence, a job offer after being dismissed, or a heart reopened by forgiveness. For others, it never comes. They carry regret to the grave, whispering prayers that were never answered. This is why second chances must be recognized for what they truly are. Not just time extended, but trust restored. And trust, once broken, is rarely rebuilt twice.

We live in a world where the culture of entitlement has dulled our reverence for grace. We want the universe to keep circling back with opportunities like clockwork as though time owes us repair kits for every mistake. But the truth is this, many have fasted, cried, bargained with God for another shot… and never got it. If you’re among the few who did, you are walking proof of mercy. And mercy is never casual.

Consider the father who failed his children when they were young. He was absent, distracted, buried in ambition or addiction. Years later, those same children, now grown, offer him a chance to rebuild. That is not just time passing,that is grace making space for redemption. What he does next defines the story of his fatherhood, not the years he lost.

Or take the woman who walked out on love, only to be met again by the same man who, in spite of it all, is willing to try once more. That is not romance. That is resurrection. The universe rarely doubles back like that. When it does, you don’t rehearse your mistakes, you rewrite your ending.

But second chances are not always met with gratitude. Some see them as reset buttons to resume old patterns. A corrupt politician gets re-elected, and plunders again. A cheater is forgiven, only to betray once more. A leader is reinstated, but forgets the lessons failure should have taught. These are not second chances they are wasted graces. And wasted grace is a tragedy too quiet to trend, but too loud for the soul to ignore.

Yet, there are those who rise. Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years, emerged not with vengeance but with vision. Mandela walked out of prison not seeking revenge but carrying the blueprint for a nation’s healing.

Steve Jobs, ousted from the very company he built, returned to lead a revolution in innovation. Biblical stories like the prodigal son don’t end in shame, but in celebration because redemption is still one of humanity’s most beautiful plot twists.

Malala Yousafzai

Shot in the head for going to school. Survived. Got a second chance at life, and used it to become the youngest Nobel Laureate. She didn’t just go back to class she built classrooms for others.

She survived a bullet and spoke for a generation. John Newton, once a slave trader, turned his shame into Amazing Grace. Tyler Perry moved from sleeping in a car to owning one of the largest studios in the world. 

Obasanjo walked out of prison and into the presidency, a second chance not many ever get especially not in Nigeria.

From prisoner to president, rewriting his place in Nigeria’s political history

Okonjo-Iweala’s second chance wasn’t a return it was a reinvention. From ridicule to WTO, she turned closed doors into corridors of power.

Once sidelined and slandered at home, now sits at the head of global trade. 

Osimhen’s second chance didn’t come in boots it came in grit. From hawking sachet water to shaking stadiums.

Once hawked water on Lagos streets, today he hawks goals across Europe.

Bola Ige. Assassinated eventually. Ige came back from political silence after years in exile and irrelevance, trying to fix a nation that once rejected him.

Some second chances come late and are cut short. Yet Bola Ige stood tall, determined to serve even when the odds turned deadly.

Yet, there are those who rise.

These stories aren’t fairy tales, they’re sacred footnotes in history, reminding us that second chances are not for coasting, they are for conquering.

So how do we honour a second chance?

We slow down. We acknowledge the rarity of the moment. We don’t rush back into comfort zones that bred the original fall. We listen more. We speak less. We let the lessons of failure humble us. Because a second chance is not an invitation to repeat the past.  It’s a call to rise beyond it.

If you’re parenting again, love differently. If you’re given a new relationship, cherish it like breath. If you’ve been forgiven, be better. If your name was cleared, walk in integrity. If you’re still breathing after nearly dying, live with purpose. Because not everyone got what you did.

This piece is not written for the perfect. It is written for the nearly ruined. For the almost broken. For those who failed publicly or privately and have somehow been offered another shot. It’s not luck. It’s not fate. It’s favour.

And favour, once wasted, might never visit again.

So the next time life hands you a second chance, pause. Don’t shout. Don’t tweet. Don’t boast.

Just bow.

Because you’ve just been handed the rarest currency on earth, another chance to do it right.

Vanguard News