The Miracle Of One More Day

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The following post is from a dear Brother in Christ from the East Coast. Recently, he stood with his good friend in prayer, praying for his friend's mother who was diagnosed with cancer.

This dear mother, a believer, eventually passed away, but the experience left a marked impression upon my dear Brother in Christ from the East Coast. Some of those impressions have been recorded by him in this post, entitled "The Miracle Of One More Day."

Be blessed, my dear friends.

One of the greatest pearls in life is knowing that you have no promise of tomorrow. You only have today – the miracle of one more day.

It is only by God's grace we are blissfully ignorant when our day will come - when we pass from this life into the next. It is only by God's grace we have this precious gift called time. I was reminded of this fact when a close friend recently lost his mom to cancer.

We went to war as brothers, fighting the good fight in prayer, believing by faith for a miracle but in the end the Lord wanted her to come home. There is no doubt my friend's mom died with the most precious relationship of all - with Jesus himself. Everything else flowed from that and it is because of that blessed assurance my brother could celebrate a life that was lived to its fullest.

You see, my friend's mom understood the miracle of one more day, not because of her cancer, but because of the amazing love in heart.

There are times and events in life when we've had our close calls and for a moment, an instant, or perhaps a season, we understand and appreciate the perspective the Lord has given us. Then, in time, in the natural, in the "fleshiness" of our lives, we again allow the "spirit of busyness" to overtake our eternal perspective.

But I believe there can be a defining moment in life, a personal resolve that says, "I have the miracle of one more day…Lord, I give you this day…I surrender everything I have to you. I give you my life for this one day…take my life and do with it what you will…not my will but your will."

It is the absolute ultimate surrender of your life that says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is the radical idea that says "I love you Jesus…I am totally yours…yours and yours alone, no matter the cost." It is the clear understanding that you have no promise of tomorrow. You only have today – the miracle of one more day.

You see, our spiritual urgency is not born of activity of doing things that do not produce fruit, but born of the realization that every thing I do is measured against the light of eternity.

Think about that….what if we were to live for Jesus, each day, like it was our last day on earth? What if we were to measure life, events, time, situations, and relationships against the litmus test of eternity? What if there was a sense of urgency each day that said, I live for Jesus and Jesus alone. Can I honestly say that I have lived my life in light of eternity? Do I have the Christ confidence to stand before God and hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant…"?

My friend's mom understood that she had no promise of tomorrow…she understood the miracle of one more day.

Will we do the same?

You

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The following is a poem written by a Brother in Christ shortly after his conversion in 1993.

NOTE: This poem is copyrighted, and we are re-printing it with the express permission of the author. Please do not re-print or republish it in any way (blogs and e-mails included) unless you have received written permission to do so. You may receive such permission by contacting Nameless Faceleess Love, and we will refer you to the author.

This beautiful poem elicits powerful and passionate imagery as it pours out thanks to Christ for salvation. As it does so, it paints a picture of many of our pasts, and - thanks be to God - many of our presents and futures.

May it be a blessing unto you as it was unto us......

There is no tangible measurement of You.
There is no height, or width, or depth, or breadth to You.
Your love is Spirit, and it just is.
It permeates my life, and it runs throughout my very fiber.
You, and Your love for me,
are the cornerstone and the essence of my being.

I learned to be loving by watching You.
I’d never known what it meant to adore someone.
to coddle them, to build them up,
to be able to enter into the hall of their soul and abide there
in honor and respect and peace.
You taught me that.

For I was clumsy and unskilled with my heart.
It seemed that I’d just never learned how.
A world of good intention, and yet a world of need did lie within me.

But I did not possess

a single tool did with which to hew love out of the marble of my frightened past

no language with which to fearlessly translate my skitterish heart

no rickety ladder to climb and peer hopefully over the wall of my tentative peace

no tiny stain pillow upon which to gingerly present my broken spirit to Yours.

Somehow, with Your patience, and forgiveness, and ceaseless love
I have learned that
my chisel
and my dialect
and my ladder
and my pillow

all of them

rest in Your Son and Your Holy Spirit.

And as You untied the ribboned bow from my love
You did the funniest thing.
You handed it back to me, and pressed it into my bosom.

Some of us came with silken-winged love.....such beautiful wings,
but not able to support the wind.
But now, we never forget the feel of the weave on the hem of Your garment.

Some of us came with a romantic vision,
of tropical solitude lit by singular flame.....such beautiful thoughts,
but not able to bear the complexity of life.
But now, we never forget that the strength of Your love has prepared for us
a city with transparent streets.

Some of us came with a cello and bow, painfully stringing songs of our past
into early evening air.....such beautiful sounds,
but not able to bear the coming of light.
But now, we never forget, having laid down the cello,
to look forward to the trumpet of deliverance.

I will always have some remembrance of a silken-winged young man,
who had a romantic vision of love
who played out his heart as he wondered “what for?”.

But You are faithful, that You did forgive my shortcomings,
the choices on my road to You,
and the inadequacy of my commitment.

And then replaced my silk with the wings of eagles,
replaced in my vision a man on a tree,
replaced in my heart the instrument of peace.

My life in You.

Your life in me.

NOTE: This posting is a copyrighted writing by the author, published on this blog with their express consent. You may not re-publish this writing (including in blogs or e-mailings) without the express, written consent of the author. You may obtain such permission by contacting Nameless Faceless Love via e-mail.