New Year’s resolutions are in full swing. What is yours? Workout more. Lose some weight. Go back to school. Finish a house project. Have more sit down meals with your family.
I know last week and this week it has been hard to find a parking spot at my gym, but I know historically there will be plenty of spots available once March arrives. I hate to say that! It sounds like I am being a pessimist, but I know it to be true.
If this is you (as it is with me as well with some things), I would love to share a scripture I can across in my devotional in December. It is a great one to memorize. I am going to list two versions so you can see the richness with the different translations.
“But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.”
2 Corinthians 8:11, NASB
“Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have.”
2 Corinthians 8:11, NLT
This verse really spoke to me. My husband knows all too well that I have a new idea about every 30 minutes. Some creation I want to make. Some redesign I want to do. Some project I have imagined. We often joke that if he had a dollar for every idea I have had during our marriage, he would be a really rich man.
I have a whole lot of ideas. I have a tendency to start out really strong with my projects, get into the painting, see the transformation starting, and then I will just run out of gas. I really don’t like the nitty-gritty detail items at the end of a project so I might just skip those or have Carl do them. I hate that about myself though!
I couldn’t tell you how many unfinished projects I have started which sit now in the garage or in a box in the closet under the stairs. I get excited about the prospect and the creation, but somewhere along the way I seem to run out of steam.
Can you relate? This verse is such an encouragement to finish what we have started. Finish it with the same vigor and excitement in which we started. There is nothing better than looking back on a project or goal which you have dreamed or imagined, and there it is in front of you finished and complete.
Plan before you start.
“For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.'” Luke 14:29-30, NIV
Run the race well.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it.”
1 Corinthians 9:24, ESV
1 Corinthians 9:24, ESV
The end is worth it.
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” Ecclesiastes 7:8, NIV
Give glory to whom glory is due.
“Let them know that it is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it.” Psalm 109:27, NIV
Plan it. Run it. Don’t quit. End with the same enthusiasm as when you started. The ending is what you want anyway when you start, isn’t it? Not the beginning. This is my encouragement verse which I have been meditating on or saying everyday. It fits with housework, parenting, house projects, work, Bible studies, friendships, etc. I am going to do my best to finish what I have started. Who wants to join me?
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7, NIV
2 Timothy 4:7, NIV
Blessings, Andrea
Great reminders! Thank you for this post. My new year: I started weight watchers (again) and am doing a read thru the word in a year study (via Wendy Pope online).
Way to go, Blair! Here is to being more physically and spiritually healthy! Love ya!