“Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back. What if you got it back?”
Mitch Album tells the story of what happened to a man that got to spend that time with his mother in the book “For one more day.”
He ends the book with an experience of conversion….
I believe in the deepest part of my soul: My mother, somewhere between this world and the next, gave me one more day, the day I’d wanted so badly.
“What causes an echo?” She once quizzed me.
The persistence of sound after the source has stopped.
“When can you hear an echo?”
When it’s quiet and other sounds are absorbed.
When it’s quiet, I can hear my mother’s echo still.
You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart.
As for what’s happened in the two years since, there are so many details: the hospital stay, the treatment I received, where I’ve been. Let’s just say, for now, that I was lucky on many levels. I’m alive. I didn’t kill anyone. I have been sober every day since – although some days are harder than others.
I’ve thought a lot about that night. I believe my mother saved my life. I also believe that parents, if they love you, will hold you up safely, above their swirling waters, and sometimes that means you’ll never know what they endured, and you may treat them unkindly, in a way you otherwise wouldn’t.
But there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begins. So this is my mother’s story. And mine. I would like to make things right again with those I love.
I would like to make things right again with those I love. I think this is one of our deepest desires – to make things right again with those we love.
In and through Jesus we are given this opportunity. We hear in Revelations:
Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away…
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them as their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.”
The One who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Behold, I make all things new. There is no situation in your life that Christ can’t redeem. There are no relationships in your life that Christ can’t heal or restore, even after death. “Behold, I make ALL things new.”
The second graders who are going to receive their first communion today experienced this when they made their first confessions. Everything was forgiven and they could start over again. And in their moment of confession Jesus was making things new. Today they receive communion for the very first time and it will be a very NEW experience for them as it was once for you. God can do this for you too.
Is there any area in your life that needs to be made New? Are there any regrets that you have? Is there anyone that you need to be reconciled to? Is there anything that you need to be forgiven for? Is there someone that you are mourning and wish for just one more day?
Let Jesus touch this, take it to prayer, keep these people close and through him give them access to your heart.
Jesus Christ can and promises to make all things new. You do have one more day and with Christ can make all things right with those you love. You can trust this. It’s a promise… it’s more than that it’s a command. “Behold, I make all things new.”
