Finishing Well

Ecclesiastes 7:8

"The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride."

As Mark Twain once said "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." It has been a week since I had the luxury of sitting down to plunk out my heart in a post.

You see this time of year is the end of most of the commitments I had made and everything needs to be tucked into bed.
I have always loved the above quote from Ecclesiastes because it is so counter culture.
Society loves beginnings, start up ventures and exciting new projects but endings aren't as sexy.
Wrapping up and winding down are a kind of grief. Letting go and boxing up.
I learned a good lesson years ago by a man who was the Vice President of a hospital where I was a director.
There had been a mean spirited, religon based takeover of the company's executive team.
Bernie was sent packing because he had the nerve to be Catholic in a Baptist hospital.
On his last day, as I was leaving the hospital a little early (because it was Friday after all) I saw him not at a going away party or hanging around the Medical Library commiserating -- I saw him sitting at his desk working. And there he stayed until the last minute of the last day of his employment.
It left an impression on me and now I believe that a revealing trait in a person is not how they "Tip Points" or rally the troops or even get the ball rolling. It is how well they finish.
To finish well is time consuming, a little lonely and sometimes everyday life gets pushed to the back ground.
I may be the one wrapped in an aluminum blanket at the end of the race but I surely do  hope to "Finish well"!