Finish Well

It has happened again.  It often does, really.  There's a song running through my head on a continuous loop.  I can't get it out of my head.

Maybe that's a good thing.  It's a reminder of some things God has been teaching me lately.


Here's a portion of the song, written and recorded by Karen Peck and New River:

Finish well
Every day that we are given
Finish well
For the glory of His name
Finish strong
Until the Savior finally calls us home
Give it everything we have
Finish well.

I remembered, as I was thinking about that song, that I had written about this before, so I scrolled back through some old blog posts and discovered that, at about this same time last year, I had been in a similar place in my thinking and had shared that here in my blog.  I'm sharing that original post today, with only some minor adjustments, triggered by the song Finish Well and by the book by Jean Fleming titled Pursue the Intentional Life.  I've read the book and written about it before (you can read that post here: http://susanssittingroom.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-creature-of-habit-few-thoughts-about.html), and now I am pulling that book off the shelf to read again.  If you haven't read it yourself, you might want to!

About finishing well, Fleming has this to say:  "I long to see Christ's life formed in me, to live my highest until the Lord calls me home.  I want to become the person God had in mind when He created me.  I yearn to touch the world for God's glory and advance His kingdom.  [It is] my earnest desire to 'number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom'. (Psalm 90:12)"

Fleming's thoughts mirror my own, and it is in this area that much of my prayer time has been focused recently and that God has been speaking to my heart.  I become more aware day by day that I am no longer a young woman.  How shall I spend the remaining days allotted to me?  Shall I just sit and wait for life to be over?  Shall I just waste my days away?  Shall I have pity party after pity party?  I think not.

As I'm pondering how to remain useful in this last third of my life, the Lord has brought several Scriptures to mind.  I continue to ponder, and be encouraged by, these passages.

Perhaps they will encourage you as well, no matter what your season of life.

"It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  (Philippians 2:20-21 ESV)

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

How will I - or you - finish well?  What will I be doing for the remainder of my days?  I don't know. 

Perhaps finishing well means continuing to encourage others through the words I write, here on this blog or on Facebook or Twitter.  Perhaps it means writing even more words, perhaps in book form. Perhaps it means continuing to be a student, and a teacher, of God's Word. Perhaps it means developing my skills as a photographer.  Perhaps it means mentoring or developing and deepening interpersonal relationships.  Perhaps it means baking cookies or cakes.  Or visiting with those further along in life's journey than I.  Perhaps it means serving meals at mission conferences or going on mission trips.

Whatever it may mean, my prayer is that, when doors of opportunity are open to me, I will be obedient to walk through.  That I will be found faithful.  That I will finish well.

And that's my prayer for you, too.

"O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds.  and even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come."  (Psalm 71:17-18 NASB)

You can listen to Finish Well by Karen Peck and New River here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ahOPJyKyG8