My dad always tells me, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
I love this quote because it has carried me through some pretty tough times in life. From denials to colleges, to heartbreak, to “failing” figuratively, spiritually….and even literally at times, this saying reminds me that no matter what, it always works out for the good in the end.
When I was applying for colleges my senior year in high school, I was denied by my number-one choice university. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. My heart was set on this specific school. I had worked so hard and felt like I had put all my hope in being accepted right out of high school to this one particular college.
I’ll never forget the afternoon my mom approached me with tears in her eyes. She had gotten to the mail before I had that day. Trying to hold back her emotion she said, “I’m so sorry,” and she began to cry. I didn’t really understand –then I figured it out. I had been denied entry to my dream school. Looking back now, I can see that maybe this wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. But for a high school senior, college acceptances can mean the world.
I felt sad, angry, frustrated. I felt like I was back at square one. I didn’t know what to do. My future was a big question mark and there I was feeling like I had fallen flat on my face. All my hard work…where had it gone?
That night my dad came to me and told me, “Everything is going to be OK. Remember, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
So at that moment I thought to myself, “Ok, I’ll start by picking myself back up.” I wasn’t going to give up. I said no thank you to the other schools I had been accepted to. I knew where I still wanted to go to school, I was just going to take another path of trying to get there.
I enrolled in a local city college for my first year and planned to reapply to my same dream school that same fall. It was one of the scariest things I had to face. I hesitated to turn in my application. What if I would be rejected again? What if I fail?
But again those words replayed in my head, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” So I decided to give it a try and submitted the application.
Three years later, I graduated from my dream college.
It was hard. What I thought was my biggest failure when I first was denied, ended up being my biggest catalyst. You see, that first year of college I spent at home, I learned so much about myself. I learned that I wasn’t ready to go away to college just yet. I had some maturing to do, some family members who I still needed to spend time with, and some life lessons I had to experience. My timing wasn’t God’s timing. He had a better plan than I did.
Even though God’s plan was a year “off” from my original plan, there wasn’t anything “off” about it. I was off. I see that even though things don’t work out at first, if you put everything in God’s hands, it all works out for the good in the end.
Sometimes things don’t go our way. On our road to success we have to encounter obstacles that we think are signs to give up. But in reality, these roadblocks are experiences that will add to our character. Sometimes our dreams come with detours along the way. So if this is you, if you feel like your dreams seem farther than you had anticipated, this is NOT failure. Rather, your story is still being written by God who knows what’s best.
You have not failed! You are learning about yourself. Enjoy the journey to your dreams. Give it to God, and remember, “It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.”
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