It Is Not How We Start but How We Finish

It was a deep and eye-opening conversation with my cousin.  It had been ten years since we last spoke and fifteen since we’d seen each other.  A shared concern over a relative brought us together both times, but our last conversation was different; there was a new openness in our personal sharing.

 When we were younger, there were far more opportunities to be together.  I was always under the impression my cousin was favored among the extended family and, as such, was treated in a respectful and nourishing manner.  I was gravely mistaken.  She had suffered silently.

 Both of us shared how grateful we are to have grown in relationship with the God the Father and with Jesus.  This relationship of grace provided much healing through the years and allowed us to be better spouses, mothers and grandmothers.  We would have been completely different people had it not been for the intercession of others and their acts of kindness, charity and true concern us.  This was God’s Word and people’s faith in action. We were pulled out of a dangerous spiritual and physical trajectory. 

Our conversation turned to the gift of hope, and she said something that has stayed with me since, “It is not how we start, but how we finish.” 

There is always hope.  We are to persevere to the end.  “I have competed well; I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).”