Endings are important. Paul says in II Timothy 4 “I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.” Yet fighting the good fight was also a day-by-day process for Paul. We finish each hour, each day, each test well, which all builds toward our ultimate end of finishing well. Sometimes one day or even one hour is all we can face at one time. For those who fight wars, or grieve the loss of a loved one, or watch their life’s dreams crumble, one day at a time, finishing well is very pleasing to our Heavenly Father. It’s the daily going on that counts for eternity.
In a dispatch to Francis Walsingham on May 27, 1587, Sir Francis Drake wrote: “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.”
In the words of Amy Carmichael: “Let us die climbing” is the essence of finishing well.
– Elizabeth R. Skoglund, Finishing Well