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BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

 


I begin this piece with an illustration of an artist who set out to paint a portrait of a person, he may starts with just a simple stroke of brush on the canvass, but in his mind, he has finished the entire portrait, he has traveled the entire course of painting the portrait from start to finish. Therefore, every stroke of brush, every combination of colours are just the routes of arriving at the end of the journey he has mentally travelled. Yes, he began with the end in mind. 

Starting/beginning and finishing/end are two deciding moments in a man’s life, knowing the gravity and implication of these two as they relate to your life will largely influence everything you do every day. Our time and generation gives much attention to glorious starting, to glamorous beginning at the expense of finishing well and strong which is rather pathetic; this is because it does no one good to start anything well and not finish strong. 

Starting sets a life on course and exposes the life to all it takes to reach the finishing line. A good and beautiful beginning doesn’t necessarily guarantee a successful finish and end, what you do in between starting and finishing determines the kind of finishing you will experience. Your starting line in life presents you with the cross to bear, the responsibilities to handle and the course of action to take. These are variables and factors that will determine the finishing of your life. A life that has no cross to bear has no crown at the end of the day. A life void of responsibilities will be void of achievements. A life without a course of action, will settle down for any action that comes his/her way

Take for instance, we attend schools to receive lessons/knowledge to be educated, we go to churches to worship, we go to work places to earn a living, we all engage in many things for many reasons. But who has ever taken a time out to consider that most of these endeavours were motivated by the end? If only we fast forward our lives to the end of everything we are doing, we will change our mentality and mindsets towards everything we do. If the end is destruction, there is high tendency of withdrawal and refraining, if the end is ultimate gain, much will be given to see that is properly and carefully done. 

Permit me to ask therefore, when was the last time you weigh and consider the end or consequences of all you have done and all you are doing now? Can you see yourself ending well and finishing strong or regretting because you failed to begin with the end in mind? Just like an artist who has envisioned a beautiful damsel in mind with every stroke of paint on the canvas tilting toward bringing her beauty and image at the end of the day, so are you supposed to take every step and make every move, bending toward arriving where you want to go in life. 

The purpose of life is a life of purpose, what I mean is you don’t let life happen to you but you happen to life. It is not an accident or a mere coincidence, but deliberate and purposeful effort that we all were created. It is therefore pertinent we know that God’s purpose over our lives are to toe the finish line of life strong. 



You see when God, the greatest artist of old times set out to paint and mould the being call you and me, he was deliberate about the  end for us to be in his image and likeness, after all has been said and done, he exclaimed wow! This is beautiful. We all carry in us his wisdom and spirit; it will be great if we begin everything with the end in mind. 

More practically therefore, it doesn’t profit you much to begin anything without the desire, intention, drive and determination of finishing it. So I dare to say, becoming a student don’t profit you that much if you don’t finish at the end of the day. No matter how great and commendable the beginning of your business was, it won’t do you any good if you don’t sustain it and gain out of it at the end of the day. Becoming a Christian is graciously great, but it will be an effort in futility with eternal consequences if we don’t end up in glory at the feet of the Master.  

What then is the ultimate end that we are supposed to begin with in mind?  Our end is living out our divine designed purpose in light of eternity. It was King Solomon in all his wisdom that said the end of a matter is better than the beginning thereof. It is important we know that our end is our purpose and the wisest man also concluded that: all has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the full and original purpose of every man. 

Our end is to break forth, our end is to live life to the fullest, and our end is to reach out, touch lives, affect our generation and fulfill our God’s given destinies. 

I do hope you learned something

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