Finished or Not…It’s Never Done

“Relax, ” said the night man, “We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

_Hotel California lyrics

There are times in your life when you’re ready to wash your hands of the whole thing – you’re finished.  But that does not mean you’re done.  There are a few things in life that you can’t quit – you’re never done – and to ignore them or mishandle them is to potentially reap consequences that are devastating.

I remember years ago being at Myrtle Beach, SC with my wife for a get-a-way.  Out of nowhere, just like a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Sonja and I had a disagreement that turned into a heated discussion that soon ramped up to a full-blown verbal fight that appeared to threaten our little boat of matrimony.   

I remember storming out of the hotel room and walking on the beach…fuming.  I was finished.  I saw no way for resolution.  For the first time in our marriage the word “divorce” came to my mind.  But there was one problem…

I kept running into the words I had spoken before God and his minister to my wife, “Till death do we part”. 

What was I to do about that? 

I determined that even through I was finished with the whole thing…I was not done.

To our credit, we both cooled down and eventually worked it out.  And the funny thing is, I can’t, for the life of me, remember what we were arguing about.

I shudder to think how my life would be today if, in that moment of being finished with my marriage, I hadn’t remembered that I was not done.

The truth is, there are a few things in life that you are never done with.

I know things can get tough.  But sometimes you just have to power on through.

You don’t get to stop being family.    

You can finish a career, an assignment, or a task…but you are here for a purpose and, finished or not, you’re not done until your last breath.

Ignore Him if you like, pretend that He doesn’t exist or if He does it doesn’t really matter…but eventually you will have to stand before your Creator and give an account of your life.  You may be finished with the whole God-thing, but God is not done with you.

Yes…you may be finished…but there are some things that are never done.

The ONE THING for today: There are a few things…a very few things…that are never done in life.  It’s important to know what they are (and what they’re not) and be committed to give them you best.