Not Just a Starter
As some of you may have noticed from reading my blog or interacting with me, I'm a great starter and always have lots of new ideas floating around in my "overactive" brain. But what you probably also have noticed is that I am not the best at actually completing tasks. Has anyone else noticed an excessive amount of "Part 1" posts I've done and then never followed up with a "Part 2"?
I love starting new things-- new books to read (I have probably at least 20 started right now, I'm embarrassed to admit), new projects to sew (Just take a peek into my craft area in the closet to figure this one out!), and new business ideas (Don't even ask how many business ideas poor Jesse has had to talk me out of! Like I really can add anything to my schedule! Yet, I always think, "C'mon, just this one more thing. It's a great idea, it won't take that much time. I promise I'll try to have dinner on time from now on and no more clean laundry piles on the bed, and yes, I WILL make sure there are sheets on the bed tonight.")
But, finishing? What's that?
I have often found myself envying those people who can have one project and they can stick with that one project until it is done and then they move onto the next thing. Me try to do that? You've got to be kidding! Instead, it seems our home is one big string of unfinished projects-- laundry to fold over here, books to read in that corner, letters to answer over there, a cleaning project to finish. I guess I could very well fit the classification of a Sidetracked Home Executive.
If it weren't for my inability to stand clutter and mess, our home might very well constantly look like a tornado had just swept through!
I'm so thankful that God is not just a starter, He is also a Finisher. I was reading a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon this morning and this quotation struck me: "Many people have only believed in God to save them for a time; so long as they are faithful, or so long as they are earnest. Beloved, believe in God to keep you faithful and earnest all your life: take a ticket all the way through. Get a salvation which covers all risks. There is no other ticket issued from the authorized office but a through-ticket. Other tickets are forgeries. He that cannot keep you for ever cannot keep you a day. If the power of regeneration will not last through life, it may not last an hour. Faith in the everlasting covenant stirs my heart's blood, fills me with grateful joy, inspires me with confidence, fires me with enthusiasm. I can never give up my belief in what the Lord hath said, 'And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' "
I love starting new things-- new books to read (I have probably at least 20 started right now, I'm embarrassed to admit), new projects to sew (Just take a peek into my craft area in the closet to figure this one out!), and new business ideas (Don't even ask how many business ideas poor Jesse has had to talk me out of! Like I really can add anything to my schedule! Yet, I always think, "C'mon, just this one more thing. It's a great idea, it won't take that much time. I promise I'll try to have dinner on time from now on and no more clean laundry piles on the bed, and yes, I WILL make sure there are sheets on the bed tonight.")
But, finishing? What's that?
I have often found myself envying those people who can have one project and they can stick with that one project until it is done and then they move onto the next thing. Me try to do that? You've got to be kidding! Instead, it seems our home is one big string of unfinished projects-- laundry to fold over here, books to read in that corner, letters to answer over there, a cleaning project to finish. I guess I could very well fit the classification of a Sidetracked Home Executive.
If it weren't for my inability to stand clutter and mess, our home might very well constantly look like a tornado had just swept through!
I'm so thankful that God is not just a starter, He is also a Finisher. I was reading a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon this morning and this quotation struck me: "Many people have only believed in God to save them for a time; so long as they are faithful, or so long as they are earnest. Beloved, believe in God to keep you faithful and earnest all your life: take a ticket all the way through. Get a salvation which covers all risks. There is no other ticket issued from the authorized office but a through-ticket. Other tickets are forgeries. He that cannot keep you for ever cannot keep you a day. If the power of regeneration will not last through life, it may not last an hour. Faith in the everlasting covenant stirs my heart's blood, fills me with grateful joy, inspires me with confidence, fires me with enthusiasm. I can never give up my belief in what the Lord hath said, 'And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' "
posted by Crystal Paine at 3:36 PM
7 Comments:
A kindred spirit...it's nice to know that I'm not alone!
I am the same way. I admire people who can become experts on one subject and make that their focus. I'm the type to check 12 books on 12 subjects out of the library and read them. I like knowing a little about everything. I like to try everything, at least once.
This is an area I struggle with too but I am getting better. I am trying to develop more discipline into my life so that there are fewer started things left hanging. The laundry is getting much better and I have great hopes for my sewing projects! :)
Ahhhh, the art of being a "multi-minded" woman! I am like Jessica - I check out the WHOLE library and scan through the books. It's crazy. When I was a kid, I read cereal boxes too. People always tell me how smart I am and how I always know a little about everything!!!!!!! If they only KNEW how little I really know!!! I am now 40. Maybe this year I will finish something I started 20 years ago....:-) Oh, I do have something that I have been totally commited with for over 2 whole years now - I have breastfeed my little boy for 2 years and 13 days consistantly and cheerfully anytime he wants to nurse. Does this count? hee hee
My husband has always said of me that I take on a subject like a biting sow (yes, he grew up on a hog farm) and giving myself a phd. in it, then it's onto the next subject. The problem comes when these subjects produce projects that don't always get finished. : ) Yet, someday I'll finish them! In the meantime, I'm giving myself a phd. in a new topic.
Crystal, you write well and are an encouragement! You are an inspiration to us homeschool moms that great things will come from these children that we are devoting our lives to. May God bless you richly!
I used to be popcorn like you all have described. Now as a general rule, I finish what I start and know when to say no thank you. Granted, I'm not perfect, but for every 10 projects I start, I finish 8-9 of them promptly. (Per usual, I'll probabaly eat my words shortly. Anyhow...)
I was radically impacted when I heard Elizabeth George (author: A Woman After God's Own Heart) speak locally 3 years ago. There and in her book, she speaks of 5 Fat Files. Incredible! Essentially, narrow everything you study and minister in down to 5 categories that you have a born interest in or are good at, then be an expert on those five things. God is big enough to find somebody else to pull the slack in areas you don't like or simply can't do. It's ok NOT to do it it all or know it all. Even Jesus didn't do it all when he was here. He had focused mission for his time on Earth: Love, rebuke, teach, heal & redeem. Following His example, we should too.
It takes a major work of God in some of us to get us to finish things. It's discipline, Spirit and a desire for the old things to pass away, the old things being unfinished projects or the like. James 4:17 has convicted me on more than one occasion: Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. Ouch. So when I leave the dishes and I know I shouldn't, ouch, sin. When I know I should get off the computer and finish XX because I said I would YY and I don't, ouch, sin. When I... and I know I shouldn't... Well, I think you get the picture.
For the little day to day things that sometimes go undone, we need to ask God for the grace and the drive to accomplish them for HIS glory. Remove the sin from our flesh because we can't do it ourselves. It's got to be His Spirit in my life changing my heart. And He has. :) Jesus finished all His business and I should too.
All that said, there is nothing wrong with knowing a little about lots. The problem is when we don't know a lot about anything. Everybody's got a passion or two. I happen to have 5 and I'm not guilty about it in the least. :)
We are complete opposites in this area :) Unfinished things bother me and so I am careful (sometimes too careful) about what I start! However, this post sounds like something Joshua could have written ;)
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