Every Little Finish

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Matthew 6:25-34

When we think about finishing well, we swerve toward headline events: finishing our childhood, our education, our career, our earthly lives. Paul writes of our Christian lives as an endurance race to be run and finished. But what about the less dramatic finishings? Day begins when we finish sleeping. And then …

We finish bathing, we finish breakfast, we finish conversations, we finish our daily work, we finish our evening’s occupations, and finally, we finish our waking hours. Fact is, we finish lots of stuff every day.

I’m wondering if we might enrich our lives by attending to the quotidian finish lines. Just to reason over this together, let’s take conversations as an example. We all talk to people every day. Finishing discussions well could take many forms:

• I love you.
• Have I answered all your questions?
• I’m so glad you called/wrote/texted.
• Do you have anything else to tell me today?
• I hope to hear from you soon.
• May I call again tomorrow?
• I’m glad you spoke up about these things.
• Is there anything else I can do to help?
• Thank you for sharing these thoughts/ideas/fears/worries/dreams with me.
• I am with you in this.
• I’m so proud of you.

Even impersonal, minimal-impact conversations are amenable to being finished well. Consider the grocery store checker, the guy at work who comes in to fix the copier, the counter clerk at the dry cleaners, the child selling peanuts outside the drug store, the people who empty your trash bins each week. Even—or maybe especially—these brief encounters can benefit from a commitment to finish them well:

• Goodness you’re fast! You flew right through that job!
• Thanks for your attention to detail.
• I don’t need any peanuts today, but can you tell me a little bit about your scout troop/baseball team/cheer squad/marching band?
• I love the way you always greet me with a smile.
• It’s okay—I don’t mind waiting while you change the tape in the register/correct an error/call your manager/answer her question.
• I hope you have a pleasant evening.
• Thank you for your patience.
• You did a fine job. Thank you.
• I hope to see you next time I’m here.

There’s something foundational in tending to how we talk with people. When we remember to bring gentleness, forbearance, and kindness into those conversations—to finish well—it sweetens the day.

BIBLE PASSAGE:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Matthew 6:25-34

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How do you think of the little stuff? Do you choose your focus for each day/week/hour or does it just happen as it happens? When you think of finishing well, what scale seems appropriate—is it the little daily tasks or the major points on a person’s lifelong timeline that prevail?

PRAYER: Gracious Father God, thank you for making us a people who can make choices. Thank you for giving us insights into how our actions impact others. Thank you for giving us glimpses, through your Word, of what lies beyond. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to make us patient, loving and kind. Thank you for forgiving us all our bungles. Thank You. Amen.