“Finishing Well” (Dec 4th)
No one will start a race without planning to finish it. No one will intentionally apply to a college or a class if they know they will not finish it. We are already in the month of December. It is the last month of the year 2011. Whether we are ready or not, the year 2011 will come to an end. We often make new years resolutions, but what about “end of the year resolutions”? Finishing well is just as important as starting well. How can we finish this year well? How can we finish and successfully complete the task that has been given to us, especially the things that we have started with enthusiasm and hope? Ecclesiastes 3 mentions timing in life. It talks about knowing the season of our life and doing the right thing at the right time.
Finishing well means finishing right. Meeting a certain deadline is the right thing. If you’re a student, completing all of a your assignments is the right thing to do. Or maybe if you’re a hung working adult, not losing focus and continuing to work is the right thing. Or, sometimes learning to say goodbye to a loved one is hard, but the right thing to do. Someone said that the center of leadership is at the end. Depending on how you finish, it can determine your leadership and maturity. When we were little and immature we were careless about the end. We didn’t care much about the outcome. We ended relationships carelessly because we thought we could have another one. We gave up easily because we thought we could have another opportunity.
But now as we strive for maturity in our daily walk with God we are learning to be more careful and responsible because every action that we express has a great impact in our surrounding. John Donne, a poet once said that “no man is an island entire of itself, but every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” Finishing well means doing the right thing at the right time, knowing that your actions will affect other peoples’ lives. This is important becuase if we finish well, we can grow and mature, and move forward in our lives. Now is the time to finish well. Now is the time for us to take our task seriously and with more responsibility, knowing that we belong to a community.What does God want you to finish well ths year? Whether it is school related, work, job, ministry, career or relationship, we need to finish strong so that we can mature and jump to the next level. Let’s finish well, doing the right thing in your own context, knowing that our time has a limit.
