I am a great starter! I can start things. I do really well at starting. On the other hand, I am a lousy finisher. I have so many projects in and around my house that I have started that are nowhere near finished. Goals that I start toward and I get distracted along the way. Books I haven’t read all the way through, shelves that I haven’t organized, papers I haven’t filtered through and dealt with appropriately, junk drawers that I haven’t cleaned out, rooms I haven’t painted, knitting/sewing/craft/art/etc projects that the supplies sit in bags or boxes in my office, clothes and whatnots that need to go to the Thrift Store. All sitting there undone…unfinished. The list seems endless.
It’s not a new thing with me. When I was but a wee child, maybe 5-6 years old, my mom told me to clean my room. (I have only a faint recollection of this…mainly what my mom has told me) I had toys and shoes and clothes and books and crayons (I’m sure) strung out all over my room. I worked and worked and worked for a long time…and I DID IT! I went into the living room and proudly told my mother, “It is finished. I have finished the work that you gave me to do.”
Well, as is the custom of most mothers, she accompanied me to my room and saw that, yes, indeed, everything was gone. No more toys, shoes, clothes on the floor and scattered about. It was a proud moment for us both.
And then, as is also the custom of most mothers, she [wisely] lifted the bed skirt on my bed and found that I had pushed and shoved everything under my bed. Conveniently hidden by the pink bedskirt. It was packed full of…everything. Well it wasn’t out all over the floor anymore, right?
I don’t remember what exactly happened next. I can’t remember if she made me drag it all out and actually “finish” the job I had started. I doubt very seriously that she finished “for” me. But maybe she had a bit of a laugh when she left the room and was out of my earshot.
I, as LeeAnn, and as a human being, have a problem with finishing things. And sometimes I have to humble myself and ask for help. Recently I had boxes of books and office supplies and papers from the last job I had, plus a couple of boxes of things from when I worked at the church office over 5 years ago that I just recently went and gathered together. I begged David to please come help me go through all the stuff and decide what I needed to keep and what I did not…what I needed to give away or throw away. He was a big help because he was not emotionally attached to any of the things in those boxes. He looked at it very black-and-white. And we got it done. Well, I still have one small box of things I need to deal with it at some point. (See it never ends…)
In the area of health, I need help. I need accountability to keep me on track and to help me finish and reach goals that I have. I need accountability to grow spiritually and to “finish the race” well…I can’t do it all by myself. Not effectively, anyway. And I’m not supposed to.
Really in every area of life, we all need some amount of help to finish. I love that I have friends that are good at finishing. They have a project…they do it…they stick to it until it’s done. End of story.
Through several avenues today, this Good Friday, I have been reminded again of those final words of Jesus on the cross…those very important words.
It. Is. Finished. (John 19:30)
The job that my mom gave me to do years ago (ok “decades” ago)…I did not finish. I did not carry out the instructions of my mother. I did the job half-way, I guess you could say.
But the job that God the Father gave Jesus His Son…He finished. Boom! End of story. And He didn’t need any help. He needed the companionship and fellowship and participation of His followers, but they didn’t help Him finish this epic God-request. He didn’t do the job half-way. He COMPLETELY finished the job He had been born to do. He fulfilled the whole reason that He came to earth. He was obedient to His Father.
And there, at the end of all the old things (because everything was about to be brand spanking NEW!), He told his Abba Father, “It is finished! I have finished the work that you gave me to do.”
And I am so thankful!!
the girl ramsey 