REFLECTIONS

The Finish

That finish! Who can ever forget it! The star quarterback broke free with only seconds remaining to win the national championship. Or when a young Olympic gymnast secured the gold medal for her team with a perfect landing despite a severely sprained ankle. Or the runner who stopped to help a fallen competitor at the expense of her own medal deserving performance. Then there was the highly favored relay team that dropped the baton in a handoff. The finishes made memories. But not just memories. They set examples that teach life.

Life’s memories are like the baton in a relay, passing from generation to generation, teaching lessons and making handoffs whether the finish results in a championship or an agonizing defeat. It’s the way of life; and we all play the game. It’s the way we finish that tells the story.

None of us know what’s ahead in our lives. We wish for news that promises something we want to hear; but recent news has been anything but good. Instead, it tells of storms, floods, earthquakes, and threats of war. At home, onsets of dementia, terminal illness, and debilitating injuries invade our lives or those we love. But whether the news warns of difficult times ahead, or offers hope for answered prayers, the events in our lives set the stage for memories to be made. God will use them for good just as he described in this scene with Jesus and his disciples:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. (John 9:1-4)

Now aren’t we all like that blind man, unable to see God’s plan for our lives. But of one thing we can be sure. Whatever happens in your life and mine, God will use it so his work may be displayed in our lives. Challenging times serve as preparation for something else God has planned. He uses them to make memories, a baton to be passed into someone else’s life.

One day you may break free and score the winning goal. Or you may display the courage to execute a painful landing, sacrifice personal glory to help another, or drop the baton at a crucial time. But when those days come in your life, God has assigned you work to do—to reveal his work in your life. And He may ask you to do it over and over again until your life on earth is through. But then…

Can you think of a more memorable way to finish?

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

Click here for Printer Friendly Version