Super Bowl 51 concluded with one of the most epic sports meltdowns in history.  As a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, naturally I felt disappointed.  The game was a reminder that in sports, and in life, it’s not the start but the finish that really matters. To win, the team must finish well. At halftime, the Falcons looked invincible and the Patriots appeared demoralized.  After the next 34 minutes of game time, things would look quite different. 

When Life is Like the Super Bowl

You may find yourself at a place where your life more closely resembles the Patriots at halftime of Super Bowl 51.  Little you do succeeds and the odds seem stacked against you. You’ve experienced failure, disappointment, and defeat.  You just don’t have the gumption to finish well.

I know how you feel.  Life can overwhelm us at times, leaving us feeling hopeless and trapped.  Somedays, we want to just “run out the clock” and get on to the next thing.

Conversely, you may find yourself in a place where you life closely resembles the Falcons at halftime.  Your life has been awesome, God has been good to you, and you are reaping the joy of bountiful blessings.  You have few complaints and as a general rule you find yourself pleased and satisfied.

Believe it or not, the second scenario is the more dangerous of the two.

When things are going well, we need to beware of the temptations of complacency and over confidence.  It is easy to think that things will continue along the same path, so we let down our guard,  We fail to maintain a good level of diligence and self-discipline.  We forget that even a wave of success will eventually break along a shore line. 

However, feeling hopelessly behind and defeated also has its temptations.  When nothing is going right, we discover the urge to give up and stop trying.   We face the lie that our past failure makes victory impossible.  If we give in to this attitude, we will never turn our rough start into a positive finish.

3 Questions to Help You Finish Well

1.  Where Am I?

Whether in success or defeat, we need to be honest with ourselves.  Successes tend to make us delirious, and defeat often leads us to blaming and excusing.  Finishing well requires us to constantly and honestly self-evaluate.  We cannot be sure of the right direction if we are not sure of where we stand at the moment.

2.  How Did I Get Here?

Successes often cause us to over-estimate the role we play in them.  On the other hand, defeat causes us to either under-valuate ourselves or more dangerously, erroneously blame others.  We need to take healthy ownership of where we are in life.  We must acknowledge the positive role others play in our successes and own up to our culpability in defeat.  If we get overconfident in our victories, the wave of success is soon to crash.  If we blame others or make excuses for our defeats, they will forever imprison us. 

3.  What Do I Need to Do to Move Forward?

In success we cannot complacently stand pat and in defeat we cannot remain paralyzed in our pain.  Overconfidence and complacency in success will lead us to stagnation.  Blame and excuses in bog us further in the deep mire of our hopelessness. 

To those who feel they have a hopeless second half, let me encourage you with one truth. Sometimes getting from where you are to where you need to be can seem an insurmountable task.  Don’t let the enormity of the task keep you from getting started.

Chinese philosopher famously wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Each day, think of at least one thing you can do to move yourself forward from where you are.

Which of the three questions do you most need to ask yourself today?  What one thing will you do today to help you finish well?

Help from the Bible

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14 (HCSB)

We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. – 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (HCSB)

See also, Renaming Your Reality