We started work on Celia’s next album. For those of you who have been with us from the very beginning, this one makes five. We have no idea what the final title will be, but we like what we have recorded so far. I am amazed at how the technology of recording has changed since we began our recording journey back in 1990. One of the newer inventions on the recording machine (the one we’re using now doesn’t use tape) is the “undo” button. What an incredible invention. I wish I would have discovered / invented the button. Here’s how it works: if you don’t like what you just did, you simply hit “undo” and presto you’re right back where you were before you made your last attempt. This is a big leap forward in the recording process. In the “old days,” like a year or two ago, you had to choose between keeping what you had on tape and taking the risk of destroying it in hopes of recording a better take, (You could burn up extra tape to keep both efforts). But, it was pretty much a “do or die” kind of situation. Now, you just give it your best effort and then make your choice with no risk.
You may have had some personal experience with the undo button. Maybe you’ve encountered an undo option on your computer. We have grown so comfortable with that option that our computers now tell us if we’re about to perform a task that cannot be undone. Commitment on our part is no longer expected as the default option.
I have thought of some other applications for the undo button that would help me personally. I’m thinking I’d like to have one close by for the times when I say an unkind word. Or maybe those times when I share a word of gossip or a secret that wasn’t meant to be shared. Or what about one for school or work. Have you had a time when an incorrect answer or a less-than-great idea somehow escaped your brain and made its way from your mouth to the ear of someone you really respected. Sometimes I don’t even know that what I did wasn’t a great idea until I see someone else’s reaction. The undo button could handle that situation as well. The listener wouldn’t even remember what they’d heard. Life would be as if the thing never happened.
I am not alone in my need; I think there were some times when the disciples could’ve used such a button. How about the time they had that argument about who was the greatest. Or what about right after Peter heard the cock crow a third time. I bet he would have given anything for a shot at the undo button. Or what about Judas when he was counting the cost of those thirty pieces of silver.
But life is not like that. We cannot undo most of what happens. There wasn’t a safety net at the circus I went to as a kid and we knew it. It made everything more exciting. You knew those performers high in the air were at risk up there.
My hope today is that you and I would live just a little more intentionally, knowing that there is not an undo button for what we do and say–this isn’t a dress rehearsal . . . so, walk chalantly.
Ron