Finish Strong
When I was in high school my youth minister Andy had a two-word phrase that our whole youth group knew well. He reserved this phrase for the very last day of our week-long spring break and summer mission trips, gathering us before we headed out for our final workday, generally sleep-deprived, sore from the week, and often already sweaty from the morning humidity. He’d huddle us all together and say two words: “finish strong.”
I’ve been out of high school for a long time now, but I find myself repeating Andy’s phrase at regular intervals in my life; at the end of hard tasks, at the end of workouts, at the end of pregnancies, at the end of a job, and always at the end of a semester.
There have been semesters where finishing strong looked a lot like dragging myself across a finish line. Last year, finishing strong looked like finally accepting that Margot would be born by c-section, even though it’s not what I wanted.
As I head into my very last month of Divinity school, I know what’s ahead of me. The next four weeks will be filled with exams and paper deadlines, late nights and tables covered with commentaries. Much of this will need to be completed during Wake County’s spring break - when both my girls will be with me at work (because it also happens to be Holy Week!). April will be a busy, stressful, difficult month.
“If that is the case, may you find the places where God is reaching for you. May you be given focus and renewed energy. May you find yourself amazed at strength you didn’t know you had. ”
But to the very best of my ability, I will finish strong. When I look back on my Divinity School experience, I want to remember running the race with endurance - not just making it to the finish line, but running through it with strength.
Just like those final mission-trip days, where we wrapped our blistered hands with bandages before grabbing the rake one more time, finishing strong isn’t just something I’ll be able to muster up the strength to do by myself. I’ll need a lot of help - help that comes from God in the form of helping me to stay focused on the end goal. I’ll need to remind myself constantly why I’m doing what I’m doing, and I’ll need God to show up in unexpected ways.
Maybe you’re going through something right now that is wearing you down. Maybe you’re feeling your strength being depleted. Maybe you’ve lost sight of the finish line all together.
If that is the case, may you find the places where God is reaching for you. May you be given focus and renewed energy. May you find yourself amazed at strength you didn’t know you had.
And may you finish strong.
