Are You Good at Endings?

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I am humbled that you would take the time to read this post.

With all the millions of other things you could be doing, you are spending your precious minutes with me.

Thank you.

I promise not to keep you long today. I just have a question.

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Are you good at endings?

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You know, are you just as strong finishing something as you are starting it?

Or, are you like me…

…excited to start a new project, thrilled to begin a new adventure, one to run full-force ahead with a new idea…

…until it gets tough.

Then, when the follow-through feels more like “trudging through,” and the happy ending looks more like a “crash ending,” there’s a tendency to bail.

Complain, divert, skip out, and…quit. However…

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What if we determine to persevere? To let the trials between beginnings and endings build our “diligence muscles” and work out some character.

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It’s Biblical, you know.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5NKJV) (emphasis mine)

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I’ll admit, I don’t always end well. Sometimes I fizzle out completely and give up. Other times I crash and burn. And yet other times I whine and complain until the last second (my husband’s least favorite).

But I’m rethinking endings—happy or not. I’m trying to see them as the start of a new beginning.

How about you?

Sisters, let’s be good finishers. Let’s be faithful to tie up loose ends, cross the t’s, dot the i’s, and finish gracefully.

Then, when it’s time to say goodbye, wrap it up, or move on, we will have peace knowing we ended well.

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What loose ends are hanging in the balance of your life?

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What circumstance would you rather leave un-done? (See 10 Ways Not to be Anxious here.)

Maybe, you’ve been hoping your situation will resolve itself or just “go away.” I’m sorry to say that it probably won’t. It needs your attention. And you’ll feel better if you persevere, letting the uncomfortable stuff give you a bit of character, and the character remind you of hope.

The hope you have in Christ.

Cause this is not all there is! (Can I get a “woo-hoo?”)

Our struggles are small in the BIG scheme of things. Even though they feels huge, they’re doable. They really are!

So, how are you going to end well? What phone call are you going to make? What email will you send? What “grit and determination” will you expend to finish the task you’ve been given?

Please know this…

I am exercising my “finishing” muscles right along with you. And you know what? I’m sensing hope rise in my heart. It’s that deep-down, love-of-God in my soul  saying, “Hope does not disappoint.”

And it doesn’t.

Always an email away,

Jennifer

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*For more on ending well, click here.