[Verse 1]
Once in a lifetime we come to this place
We are given grace
We are given grace
Here one decision is made to lean in or away
Once in a lifetime this choice is in our hands
Here at this crossroads so briefly we stand
Once in a lifetime this one given heartbeat goes by
Once in a life
[Verse 2]
Once in a lifetime we come to this day
We cannot come back
We cannot come back
We have His Promise to give all the wisdom we lack
Once in a lifetime this choice is in our hands
Holding one moment between God and man
Once in a lifetime this one given heartbeat goes by
Once in a life
[Verse 3]
Met and surrounded by mercy so real
So real we can taste it
Over and over we choose to drink in
This love or to waste it
[Verse 4]
Once in a lifetime at this very place
We are given grace
We are given grace
No small decision is made to resist or obey
Once in a lifetime this choice in our hands
Once in a lifetime and never again
Once in a lifetime this one given heartbeat goes by
Once in a life
Once In A Lifetime
Song Meaning
Twila Paris treats an ordinary day as an unrepeatable event in "Once In A Lifetime" — "this one given heartbeat goes by" only once, and the decision attached to it won't come back around for a second try. The song deliberately avoids naming what the decision is, keeping its language general enough — "lean in or away," "resist or obey" — that it applies to whatever moment of choice the listener is actually facing.
"We cannot come back" repeats the same warning from a different angle, refusing to let the listener treat the present moment as a rehearsal for a more serious decision later. The bridge shifts briefly from urgency to description — "met and surrounded by mercy so real, so real we can taste it" — grounding the pressure of the moment in something good rather than only something at stake.
The final verse's "once in a lifetime and never again" intensifies rather than resolves the tension the whole song has built, ending not on relief but on the same weight it opened with — this moment, once, now.