This past week, we met my in laws in Orlando for a quick visit. When we arrived, we got settled in to our hotel and quickly piled in the car to head to dinner. Being together was so much fun–something we had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks. We laughed, we ate, laughed and ate some more.
Like most dinner outings, the server took a long time to bring us our check. (Doesn’t this always seem like, forever?) We were out of drinks, out of bread and out of coloring space on the kid’s menu. With every passing minute, the kids became a little louder, more demanding and just straight up ready to go.
Since our kids were little, we have taken them pretty much everywhere. They love going places, especially out to dinner. They behave really well…we often get compliments from the server/those around our table. By no means am I bragging on my kids or my parenting skills… Cheerios, coloring books and a few rounds of the game “I spy” have been a few things in my bag of tricks to get our kids to sit through an entire meal.
Anyways, where was I? Oh, dinner with the in laws, that’s right. The kids became louder and louder and we were starting to get “the look” from strangers sitting next to our table. If you’re a parent you know this stare..if you don’t have kids, you probably have given “the stare.” Oh, that stare is the worst–if you are a giver of “the stare” I encourage you, don’t..it only makes matters worse. It makes our hands get all sweaty, our faces turn red and that smile you see, well it’s not a real smile, it’s really us channeling our best ventriloquist. You see a smile, but we are secretly threatening our children. Haha. (I believe that kids shouldn’t be forced to be statues at dinner, but we all desire for our kids to not eat crumbs from the floor, knock over a drink or go crazy.)
Well, my kids were starting to get crazy and right then I had a BLOG moment. I blurted at the kids, “Hey guys, no matter how awesome you have been the entire time, people will remember us how we end this thing.”
How true it is for us. Many times we start things–new jobs, new seasons, projects, etc. We start them with such enthusiasm, commitment and passion. But as we feel a change, transition, or an ending to a season approaching, it can be so easy to lose the enthusiasm, commitment and passion. How we end things, how we finish things is how we will be remembered. People quickly forget how we began something, when all they can see or what they experience last is our passionless, uncommitted self.
I have been that person. That person so ready for a new season that we forget that the season we are in is just as important. How we end something gives us the momentum we need to start that new thing. It’s usually the end of a season that holds the most importance, the times we learn the most lessons, gain wisdom and gather the preparation we need for the next thing.
If you’re in a transition with a job position, I encourage you to go out with a bang! Not “bang!” as in burn bridges, lose interest and disengage to the point people are ready for you go. But “bang!” as in do everything you can to continue to learn, grow and add value to that workplace until the very end.
I look around and see so many passionate starters, people who are eager to begin new things. But few are the people who actually finish well. When we are good stewards of now, when we are responsible stewards of what’s in front of us, God will bless us with what’s next. And not only that, but people will see good character in us, making it impossible for them not to cheer us on and root for us as we move on.
TRUTH: Its not how you start that matters, but how you finish.
DARE: Finish what you start…STRONG!
