Do you ever sense a theme going on in the background of your life? A certain struggle…a similar scene–all pointing to a problem that has not been uprooted.
I have…and it has to do with finishing something I have begun. For instance there is my cross-stitch drawer. It is filled with unfinished work. Things I had hoped to complete for someone–good intentions of mine that never saw the light of attainment.It is a struggle of mine…for I ENVISION the finished product. I see it in its glory on display. I purchase the materials, sort through them and get started. Many days may pass with my faithful work applied. And then one day, it gets set aside. It gathers dust. It gets moved out-of-the-way before company comes. Finally it is lost.
Until one day, I pick it back up again and begin again. The cycle may ensue once again. It may even be relegated to my “craft drawer.” With the drawer closed, I feel no guilt to my unfinished task. For I do not have to open it again. I do not have to think about it.
Then there are our paintings. Chris and I worked on these together in the time before we had children (7 years worth). Chris did the mountains, and I worked on the house. Again, unfinished.
Then there are our cross-stitched Santa ornaments. And in the same line are the broken, but fixable ornaments. Each year I place them aside in a place to-be fixed. Each year, I repack them and hope next year it gets done. Perhaps I should just throw them away?
Oh and then there is some unfinished unpacking: we moved here SIX years ago and there are several boxes that have not been sorted through in our garage. Do we even need those things?
And how could I leave out the exercise equipment? One piece collects dust and serves as a literal stumbling block each night if I have to get up in the dark. Ouch! Another piece I began again….also dusty. So I pedaled and sneezed my way through! Finally, we just GAVE them both away.
Best Intentions. Goals! Aims, aspirations, objectives, designs and targets. None attained.
Why is it that we set up these goals and miss the mark every time? Where do we begin?
I’ll tell you, we begin by getting the rest of our priorities straight. We begin by asking the Master Organizer how to finish–for the strength and the will to do it. And He will help us. He knows how to go about the finishing of those things–He is indeed a God of ORDER. Ask Him to order your life and the things you begin. Ask Him for a plan.
For these are qualities that our Mighty God possesses…Qualities that He uses THROUGH us, if we are willing. Some of those things may be like winter with its snow-covered ground with the grass below it waiting for the spring–a WORK in progress. But a finished task or project will come…and with it? Some feelings of happiness and the good kind of pride. I think God has instilled in us a need to accomplish. It may be just a quality, where we look an awful lot like our Daddy!
Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
John 4:34
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
2 Corinthians 8:11
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
James 1:4
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So persevere, my friends–ask God to inspire you to finish every good work that He has planned for your lives. He most certainly will!
