Finished

 Have you ever known the satisfaction of completing a hard assignment. Cleaning the house. Mowing the yard. A long work project. You get a feeling of satisfaction when it is done. When the last bale is hauled out of the hayfield. When the last cow is worked. When the last paper is written. When the last wind spring is run. When the last dish is washed and put away. When the last load of laundry is folded and put in the proper place. 

I just finished a two hour work out. Muscles fibers strained. They ached. They grew fatigued, but I kept pressing on until I finished my goal. There were moments I thought the grueling torture would never end. On this side of it, I am glad I endured and did not give up. In the middle of it I wanted to do just about anything rather than finish that workout. Except to shop or eat chicken. 

Finishing is a habit. So is quitting. Jesus finished the work He was sent to earth to do by joyfully enduring the cross. [Heb 12:2] He said from the cross, "It is finished." [Jn 19:30] The hard assignment for dying for the sins of humanity was completed. He was not finished. He is seated at the right hand of the Father right now. His redemptive work was finished. 

Jesus finished the work He was sent to do. Do you have some unfinished project you started and put off for one reason or another? Did you start something and not follow through to the end. I talked with a guy yesterday who wants to go back to school to finish his college degree after dropping out. That has been thirty years ago, but not finishing nags at him. He is plenty intelligent enough to finish. 

There is a contentment for a project completed. Like when you remodel and the last bit of work is finished, and you can sit down to enjoy the final result. Brenda loves to sit down and enjoy her clean house after a day of housecleaning. I like to look out over a freshly mowed lawn to enjoy it before the grass starts to grow again. 

 Some things in life are easy to complete. You start and just like that you are done. I am thinking of a child's jigsaw puzzle. Easy peasy. Recently, at our marriage conference each couple was tasked with putting together a 60 piece jig saw puzzle. I have never put together such a puzzle in my life. Never interested me. Brenda excelled at the project while I offered little help. When I tried I inevitably matched the wrong pieces together and she had to undo them. When we lost I was done. Brenda was not. She had to finish that puzzle. I admire her for that. She is definitely a finisher. May we follow her example. 

Paul finished his ministry to the end of his life. [Acts 20:24] He was constantly on the move from town to the next. He labored hard and suffered much for the cause of Jesus Christ. Even after beatings and imprisonment he did not quit. He finished. May we run our face with endurance to our last day and last breath. [Heb 12:1]