Final

There is one word that I believe most of us do not want to hear. Final is a word that could be positive without a doubt. In grade school the teacher would often say, “use that word in a sentence”, and I can. It is final, we have accomplished our goal. Now that’s positive but there is an aspect of the word final that is not so welcomed. There is a popular television show where the question is asked, “Is that your final answer”? Certainly if someone is asking us that question there is some weight that goes along with our answer because it sounds as if the next action means a change with no correction.
Final is a difficult word to embrace. In attempting to understand how we get to that final moment we should establish a couple points that we can agree on.: 1 – There are many steps to reaching a final decision; 2 – A clear understanding comes with a statement like, “we are in the final stages”. We can clearly hear the additional steps even in a final stage; 3 – The last moment often arrives and catches us off guard even while we know the presence of difficult things, or a day that approaching that is final.
Attempts to recapture moments that were so awesome once often are unsuccessful. For something to have been so positive and valuable we find ourselves only able to cherish it as a memory. We can give good faith and effort to be the same type of person that helped create that great moment but in honest truth, that moment has a final element in its character and we remain with only the pleasure of having been there to experience it. I’ve been in final moments of life many times with families, couples, employment and even friendships. Finding a new connection after a decision has been made is often challenging and the moment provides us with many questions about our decision that leave us wondering what we have done, or experienced.
In the Bible scripture says that we can be confident of one thing. If we believe that God started something, then we should just relax and trust Him because He will finish the task. That sure seems pretty final. Scripture also instructs us to press forward toward that goal, and that sure seems like a lot of work, but there is another scripture that also says that you and I can do anything through Him. Hum?, seems like a pretty final statement about outcome if I will only work, press and believe.
Today I am confident that many who are reading this column are facing some final decisions. Some are final decisions about financial matters, relationships, medical choice, and these decisions could include what we believe, or what we accept. No one wants second best, we all want the very best. Folks don’t wish people some success, and folks don’t pray that people will experience a little faith. We wish BIG and we pray BIG. We want a complete miracle before us, we want the wish to actually be bigger then we can dream so we can be totally overtaken when it arrives. We humans are funny in our way of thing and we are no doubt greedy in our expectations of all things, except final things.
The Bible says there is a day that the Savior of the world will return and He is returning for his Bride that will be ready. WOW, I’ve been in enough weddings to understanding last minute task, and rushes that create headaches and stress. For some reason I just don’t believe that’s the way He is expecting to find us, on his final return.

Until then