Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Finish Well

I love our walk. I have walked these little country road for more years than I care to remember. When my daughter was little, she rode her bike as I walked (she wasn't crazy about the hills, but I wasn't about to leave her home alone). I traveled the length of the road alone when she started school and years later was joined by a friend, newly arrived in the neighborhood. These days I share the walk with my husband.

We like it because the hills challenge us, because it is peaceful and quiet (for the most part), and simply because it is ours. We begin with this little uphill stretch, getting us warmed up right from the start.



Then it levels out a bit just before the first big hill. I don't walk as rapidly as I once did, but I push myself hard - not allowing my pace to slow when the pavement slopes upward. For three miles I work hard.

It is tempting when I reach that level stretch that leads down the hill to home, to slow my steps. I think about taking it slow and enjoying the sights and sounds of the countryside. It is then that I whisper to myself, "Finish well Linda." I push myself through the last stretch.

As I whispered those words the other day, they took on new meaning. I thought of the verse that says:

"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." [Psalms 90:10]

If that were to be literally true in my life, I would have only seven years left - seventeen at the most. I confess to feeling a little frightened at the thought.

The years slip by so quickly. There is still so much I want to do and see. More importantly, had I lived the previous ones well and would I do all that the Father had planned for me in the time left?

I want to finish well - to live each day to the fullest. I want to see with His eyes and walk in the path He has chosen for me. I don't know what those days will hold, or how many of them the Lord has allotted to me; not one of us does. I do know that He has written my story, and I want to live it well.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing."
II Timothy 4: 7,8

Blessings,
Linda