Woohoo! I made it all the way to Thought of the Day #7. I am now about to finish what I started and complete the task I set before myself to do. And it feels great! Which is why I chose this last day to talk about finishing. Now I know it wasnt some great huge feat that I completed...all I did was write every day for a week! But it wasnt easy. Around Thursday, I just did not want to write. Nothing came to mind immediately and it was difficult to make myself write that day, but I did it. And I am proud to say I finished what I started.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 reads,
"Finishing is better than starting, patience better than pride."
This got me thinking. It doesnt take much to start something. All it takes is some inspiration. In most cases, it takes no knowledge, wisdom or experience - it takes nothing. Anyone can start something, but it takes a special kind of person to finish it. Finishing requires diligence. Finishing requires pain. It requires patience and stick-to-itiveness even in the most trying circumstances.
A person who finishes has built themselves something in the process. This person knows the obstacels of the journey. They've encountered the stuggles and felt themselves the stings of pain. They that finish, finish with new wisdom. They have built their character, and they have something to be proud about.
It is a very good thing to start something. Afterall, we must all start before we can finish. The verse does not say that starting is bad, only that finishing is better. I want to be a passionate starter, but I also want to finish what I start well and with zeal. Over the course of my 
life, there have sadly been many things that I started, never to finish. There are 3 areas that personally I want to carry this mentality into:
life, there have sadly been many things that I started, never to finish. There are 3 areas that personally I want to carry this mentality into:1. My word - I want to be a person that follows through with what I say. Promises and saying I will or will not do something do not start when I begin the activity, but from the very moment that I give my word. I want to see my word through to completion and finish it with excellence.
2. In conduct - When I begin a skill or habit, I dont want to just start it because I get excited and allow it to stop when the excitement wears off. In everything I do, I will see it through.
3. My faith - The Christian race is one that lasts our entire lives. Maturity never stops. Learning never stops. Evangelism never stops. Love for God and for people never stops. In every aspect of my Christian walk from disciplining others to being discipled myself, ought to be something I start and continue until (and so that) one day I will hear, "Well done, My good and faithful servant." Until the final "well done" (and even into eternity!) I want every mile of the race to be well done so that I can hear that "well done" one day. Yet this will be in part of patience (the other part of the verse), not the pride or the sake of my name to be known. It will be a well done for a life lived to the glory of my King, seeing through to completion the work He has given for me to do.
My prayer is that I would learn to be a finisher in all aspects of life. Yet the race doesnt end because I finish one leg, I will constantly pressing onward to the next challenge. We must be people who will finish what we start.
Lord, help me to finish what I start, for I know I can't always do it on my own. Teach me to be a light and example in the things you have set before me to do. i am willing to start, but Lord help me to face the trials that come as I draw nearer to my finish line. I trust that you are going to help me complete great things for your name. To you be all the glory.
