"Every result you create in life comes from you."
I was sitting in front of a sterile hospital chair of my father, whom I hadn't seen since last 3 years, as he lay dying of heart attack. I had known he had been sick for almost 10 years or so, but now he was in his final week, and I still refused to see him and talk to him before he was gone. I was still so hurt for what he has done in my life. Done so, I pushed my self to see him for the last time. To say that it was an uncomfortable moment would be an understatement.
There was a lot of silence. I kept trying to engage him in conversation, but he was in so much pain and was so doped up on morphine that he was hallucinating most of the time. It was difficult knowing when he was lucid and when he was not, so I just sat there and looked at him as he lay there, listening to the hissing of oxygen, and watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest, each breath, painful as it must have been, stealing another moment of life.
I really didn't know what to say to him. What do you say to someone who you haven't been together for a long time? How do you make conversation when you both know that he won't to live out the promises you talked about?
I needed more time. I need more time to give forgiveness to him, to my father. To everything he had left in hurt. I wanted to know, Dad. What you have done to us. Have you had any idea about me? Yes, I had blamed him because of this pain. But it was too late. You can't say anything now. You cold and keep in your silent, like usual.
If I could have a miracle of one more day in my life with him, things would be different. I might be understand the reason why you treated us like that. I might be not blame you for had happened. I might be love you more than you can imagine if you let your heart to understand me. We might be can laugh together and talk what we feel freely.
As I write today, I am reminded that there are many other people in my life with whom I must make that same investment with: People who are still alive, people who are important to me, people who, if they were to leave, I would wish for a miracle of just one more day with them too.
And you probably feel the same way.
What is stopping us from making a call, or writing an email or better yet a real letter with pen and paper, and arranging to spend time with that person: Nothing, except ourselves and the misuse of excessive busyness as an excuse in our lives.
Time is not a renewable resource. Once it's gone, it's gone, and no amount of wishing will bring it back. That's why it is so important to invest it with all of the enthusiasm and energy that we can muster.
I'd rather spend it being with someone I love or doing something meaningful instead of making sure the floor is clean or the lawn is raked.
Living in another time period is so draining. Yesterday is gone... Finished... . Learn from it, cherish it and check it off as completed, because tomorrow will not always be there. Today, this moment, is the only certainty you have.
If you hold back a kind word, you'll regret it.
If you resist smiling at someone, you'll wish you had.
If something was said out of anger, you'll want to take it back.
If you didn't take an action, you'll beat yourself up.
To me, there is nothing as sad as seeing someone just wishing their hours and days away. They hate their job, so they whine and complain about it, but do nothing to increase it. They hate their life, but again they do nothing to improve it. They complain about their circumstances and how things would be so different, yet they get such pleasure in digging them up time and again and serving them to themselves on silver platters of habit.
When all they need to realize is this: We have only today to change or improve our life and our relationships. Tomorrow is simply too late.
Do you want a miracle in your life? You can create it by realizing that today can be that "one more day" that you wish for and then using it wisely.
What will you do with your miracle? What riches will you put into it, that one day you will look back on and say "That was one of my finest hours."?
I will remember that if I want one more day with someone, I'll remember I already have it: It's today. I'll do what I can in it to make that person know that they are loved.
If I want one more day to do something, I'll remember I already own it: It's today. I'll take actions today to bring it into existence.
If I want one more day to say something, I'll remember it's already there: It's today. I'll fill my days with words and cards that express what I want to say, so the people in my life know that, if I had one more day to spend with them, I would leave them no doubt as to what I feel and how much they mean to me.
What will you do to make the best use of your miracle?
Will you join me? Will you own today?
I hope you will.
*a friend story
