It’s How You Conclude that Counts!

Today’s message was written by my friend Roger Kunkel.

A preacher got his congregation’s attention one Sunday when he said: “Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in the arms of another man’s wife.” After a long pause, he added, “My mother.” A younger preacher, after hearing that, thought it would add a little humor to his message, so he tried it too. “Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in the arms of another man’s wife,” he said to his congregation. But his mind suddenly went blank and he couldn’t remember the punch line. After a moment of agony – knowing that he couldn’t just stop there – he made matters worse by adding: “But to save my life, I can’t remember who it was.”

The punch line is very important – in jokes and in life. How we conclude things often determines the entire outcome – regardless of what was said or done at the beginning. That can apply equally well to your entire life. How you started is now ancient history. How you finish it is the real issue! In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul said, “… one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ. Jesus.”

Let us pray: Loving God, who even in the cold winter of the year is able to make it summer in our hearts, we remember that there can be a coldness of the spirit just as there can be a frozenness of the earth. Teach us to care for our souls as we do for our bodies: to put on the warm vest of prayer; to wear the scarf of study and reflection; to don the coat of kindness and gentleness; to slip into the gloves of doing for others, and the boots of sharing what we have. Then we shall be warm, sheltered from every wind of despair and impatience, and fortified against the chill of loneliness. Compassionate God, you are our well-being and our eternal provider. In Jesus’ name. Amen.