FINISHING

How are your projects coming along? Are they each in a stage of incompleteness? Are your quilts still waiting to be put together? Are your woodworking projects still in pieces? How about that scarf you began to knit? Or the basement you were finishing? Are there books half read, lost under the bed? We have so many good intentions but somehow, we find ourselves stopping mid-course, not finishing what we started to do.

How about your spiritual life? Are some of the areas God has been revealing to you incomplete and unfinished?

How about loving others? Is it intact or in shambles? What specifically is He directing you to do to finish your projects well?

Joy - is it overflowing in your own heart and to others consistently? Yes, sometimes we are sad in this world, but is there a deep joy because you are getting to know God better and better and because He knows you?

Is peace within you and surrounding you like a warmly knit cloak? What do you need to do to finish that project well and wrap yourself in it every day?

Patience - I think we can all work on that project! One irritation at a time.

Kindness - oh, that one needs work especially in the small corners of our lives.

Goodness - through and through. Not just when others are looking.

Gentleness - not just for babies but for all mankind.

Self control - that one needs stitched up and hammered down into place consistently.

It takes effort to complete any project, especially projects of the soul.

Let's look at some of the soul projects which God has been nudging you to perfect in obedience to Him. Let's finish well.

So dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this you will never stumble or fall away. And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I Peter 1:10 & 11

Heavenly Father, please help me to finish all things well which You have given me to do. In Jesus' name. Amen.

FINISH WELL

Walking, we know is good for our health. Well, so they say.

Years ago the last eighth of a mile of my mile walk was up hill. Some days, when it was hot and humid in summer or bitterly cold in winter, that incline seemed straight upward, impossible to navigate.

Some days I would seem to breeze right on to the top . . . and home. On the other days, I would find myself looking at the hill with sheer determination. I wanted to finish the walk and finish it at a good, steady pace.

We, as children of the King, should also feel determined about our walk along the paths God has given us. It should be our heart’s desire to finish well so that at the end we may hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:23

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:1

Heavenly Father, please help me finish well to Your glory! In Jesus’ name. Amen.