One More Day...Part 1

I hope that someday you can pick up the book by Mitch Albom called One More Day. The meaning is something I think about all the time. A day doesn't go by where I don't think about the "what if?"  What if I had only one more day with my husband, my daughter or son, or extended family...what would I do? Books, messages, song lyrics, and movies challenge us to answer the question. We can't ask a "what if" question and not at least be prepared to give what would hopefully be just a hypothetical answer.

I often think of the "what if" something happened to me and I couldn't have that one more day with those I love. My heart breaks and grieves to consider the possibility of it happening. Just like my friend, Angie's car accident - totally not what she had planned that day, but it changed so many things in a moment. Anything...and I mean anything can happen in a split-second. In that split-second life can go from a well thought-out plan to a chaos induced whirlwind that seems out of control. I think about "what if" that happened to me and I was laying in a coma, unable to tell them I loved them, or unable to see them or hug them one more time. My heart breaks to consider the possibility of it happening and me having allowed that outcome. At the same time, I dismiss the notion, simply because I do not want to invite that into my life. But by doing so, it leaves me unprepared.

As I think about the unpreparedness of that situation, or any other similar to it, I am compelled to believe that there is no time like right now to have that conversation with myself...even if it is only one sided for now. I would want to share it however, with a few loved ones, even if they never respond to it. It's worth it for me to be certain they know what I would choose to do if I had one more day with each of them, which ultimately tells them how much value I place on our relationship right now. To have this conversation with myself, I'm first going to write as if I'm speaking to specific individuals, then I'll post it to share. Hopefully it will reaffirm our relationship, or inspire them to reconnect, or to begin a better one. 

If you have yet to consider the question, read the book for a little motivation, then take some time to define the preciousness of life in your own way, see things a little clearer and a little closer, make amends where necessary, step out and do what you know needs to be done, or say what you need to say. Life is precious and each moment that passes....is past. There's no retrieving it. During the day, my thoughts are with my children a thousand times. What are they doing right that second, how are they feeling, are they happy, is work going well, is the baby doing good or is he spitting up all over his mommie and a million other thoughts. Many times I pick up the phone, send a text or call. They don't answer in most cases, but they recognize that Mom is trying to contact them - hopefully they understand it's because I'm thinking about them...not because I'm trying to annoy them. I've been accused of calling too much or texting too much, but their perspective is far from reality. That's ok, it's their perspective.

Ecclesiastes 3 says that there is a time for everything. Nothing happens that isn't supposed to happen. God designed it that way, "whatever was, is, whatever will be, is, that's how it always is with God." Within that time for everything, there is time for us to make choices about those in our circle of influence, whether we love them, whether we accept them, whether we care for them, whether we extend our hand to help them, whether we forgive them. Those are our choices. What we don't choose, is the time remaining with each one of them. We don't know if it's one more day or thousands more days. Certainly, our heart hopes for the latter. It's the not knowing that should help us choose what we can do. Not what we can't do....but what we CAN do. And there is always at least one more step that is possible.

Life is too short to live broken hearted, live in broken relationships, live in uncertainty of unforgiveness, or live empty. Jesus' words were that He came so that we can have life more abundantly. So the question is....with one more day or a thousand days...what will abundant life look like on this side of heaven?  And what will we do for one more day?


Ecclesiastes 3. The Message. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+3+&version=MSG&src=embed.