Last Words

It has been several years since my dad passed away, but I am fortunate to have saved some old voicemail messages from him.  It’s good to replay them and hear his voice. But there is one message from him, the last one he ever left, where he had asked me to call him back. But I didn’t. I waited a day. Maybe two. And then it was too late.  He was gone.

Even after all this time, I have felt guilty that I didn’t call him back right away. Maybe I could have talked to him just one more time.

But today I listened to this old message again and I heard something entirely different. His message ends with these exact words,

“Remember, one thing.  Remember it for all time.  I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!”

Today I realized that the only reason my dad had called me was to tell me that he loved me.  He said it four times, but still I had missed the point of his message. I suppose that I was too busy feeling guilty about not calling him back.

It also struck me this morning, how much this reminds me of our relationship with God. He calls out to us, “I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!” But we too miss the message, we don’t have time to listen or are too busy to notice.

I am incredibly thankful for the handful of messages I still have from my dad. But his last message is the most special of them all. So, thanks Dad, for the best last words ever.