A – G – A – I – N

Again.

When I was a little girl I trusted my dad explicitly.

When I was quite small he would set me up on the top of the refrigerator and let me jump off into his waiting arms.

I loved it.

Faithfully he’d catch me.

I witnessed this recently in a small toddler who wasn’t quite verbalizing everything just yet. Except she was getting a gentle, loving belly tickle.

She’d raise up her top and let her mom tickle her, have enough and pull her top down.

She would run around a minute or two and then come back to her mom, raise up her top and say, “’Gain momma.”

The momma would oblige.

I know I asked my dad to do it again.

“Catch me again, daddy.”

Put me up on the highest place and let me fall into your waiting arms.

I did this often enough that it’s a wonder I am not brain damaged. When I jumped from a high place once and he barely managed to catch me in time – our game had to come to an end.

Throughout my life my dad came to my rescue time and again.

Flat tires, no gas, wrong words, bad advice, judgment-free zones, the best bid. Even on the eve of my wedding day when my nerves were shot and I was running on fumes, “Sis, I have no problem telling all of those people that you’re not going to do this.”

Always, time and again, to the rescue.

Not long ago, as I was praying, I felt a deep echo in my heart. We all know how some people say, “I have a word from the Lord.”

But, I cannot say that. I didn’t receive a whole word.

It was a prefix.

Yes, that’s right – a prefix.

Two letters.

Two. Letters.

What am I supposed to do with that?

Then, I realized: Prefixes change things. Prefixes give whole new perspective. Prefixes define things anew.

So I started making a list. Every word was written down and I’m still collecting them.

The prefix is {RE}.

What I discovered about these two letters, changed me, gave me new perspective, defined things anew. I consulted my Latin teacher friends to learn the actual meaning of this prefix {RE} – they told me it means “back” or “again.”

Again – aha!

I need “again” to do so many things, to receive so many things.

I have to share it with you. I have to take you there. Why? Because as my friend Bekah so eloquently put it, “The fact that God even gives us ‘again’ is a miracle.”

And, just like that, I’m back to the little girl I once was now instead of crying out for the excitement of a jump into my daddy’s waiting arms, I’m crying out to my Heavenly Father – “Abba, abba again!”