I’ve Started, So I’ll Finish
Persevering throughout the year
by Brian Radcliffe
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To consider strategies for coping with a drop in motivation and enthusiasm.
Preparation and materials
- None required.
Assembly
- Have you ever begun a meal with enthusiasm, but found your appetite gradually waning so that you ended up leaving some food on your plate?
It often happens on Christmas Day, with all the various components of Christmas dinner overloading the plate. The first mouthfuls - in fact, most of the meal - are very enjoyable, but your plate is simply too full. You started, but you were unable to finish. - On the other hand, have you ever begun a run or a long walk, maybe a charity event, with great enthusiasm and seemingly boundless energy, but had to slow your run to a walk, your walk to a limp and maybe even dropped out? You thought that you were fit enough, but your body let you down. You started, but you were unable to finish.
- What about the new government? On 5 July, the Labour Party came into power with great enthusiasm, full of promises about what they were going to achieve. How do you think they’re doing in terms of immigration, the NHS, international relations, potholes in the road and so on?
Their first weeks in office were full of activity and enthusiasm. They’ve started – how will they finish? - In the Bible, there is a big emphasis on the importance of seeing things through to the end.
Jesus gives the sound advice to start by planning reasonably. In Luke 14.28-30, he says, ‘Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”’
The advice here is to think things through carefully. We should avoid being too ambitious in our aims because we might set ourselves up to fail, which could be embarrassing. - Saint Paul, when writing about charitable giving, tells the believers at Corinth to get on with it, to finish the job they planned.
In his second letter to them, he says, ‘Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.’ (2 Corinthians 8.11)
The Corinthians were very enthusiastic at first, promising to support a less affluent group of churches from their wealth. However, they began to have second thoughts. Paul told them that they should still commit to what they intended, even though their financial circumstances might have changed. They started, so they should finish. - In another of Paul’s letters, this time to the believers at Philippi, he advises them to forget the past, even recent failings, and to focus on what’s ahead, what they are hoping for. He writes, ‘[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’
- It’s finishing successfully that counts.
Time for reflection
In September, you probably started the new school year with many good intentions. You had targets. You were relaxed after a long holiday. You started with a positive frame of mind.
So, how are you finishing this first term? Do you still feel as you did about life?
Let’s take the approach that we heard about in the Bible. Looking back, how do you feel about the plans that you had six weeks ago? Were they realistic? Were they achievable? How committed were you to them at the time?
Maybe Jesus was right, and we need to review things to see if our goals were realistic. On the other hand, it may be that our circumstances have changed. We may have been ill, or our usual teacher may have been absent. We may have hit some crisis in our life so that what started out as a reasonable set of plans is beginning to seem beyond us. Paul suggests that we remember our initial sense of ambition and commit to getting as close to it as we can. But let’s not look back too much; the year is still young. There’s plenty of time.
We’ve started, so let’s press on now to make sure that we finish strongly. We need each other!
Song/music
‘The climb’ by Miley Cyrus, available at: https://youtu.be/NG2zyeVRcbs (3.48 minutes long)
Extension activities
- Ask the students how they feel about the change in government now that a few months have passed.
- Applying the same criteria to the new academic year, ask them how study feels right now. Is the enthusiasm there? Is it better than feared? What suggestions do the students have to encourage one another?
