Stir Your Motivation
Are you a starter, a maintainer or a finisher? Are you energized by vision and the front end of projects and endeavors? Or are you wired to work with the vision of others – to tweak it, make it work and keep working? Or do you like to bring things home – taking huge delight in final presentations and completing tasks? We are all created with a kind of bent toward one or two of these of these driving forces, but we must learn to use them all.
If you want to develop as a visionary you must understand why it’s important to be one. Vision provides direction and the reason for doing things. “Where there is no revelation or vision, the people cast off restraint.” (Proverbs 29:18). Someone has to have a sense of where things need to go and what needs to be done or people will have no reason to discipline themselves. Without vision, people don’t really have a reason to live. The King James Version of the above verse reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” If you haven’t started anything new in a while, take some time and use your imagination to consider how things could be and what God might want to do. Jot down your ideas, and when you are ready, begin to share them with others.
If you have a hard time completing tasks, take some time and evaluate what you are really accomplishing. Sometimes we are tempted to think that getting things started, and maybe even doing the work for a while is enough. But, most things don’t really count until they are completed. Having a good drive in football doesn’t mean much without a score at the end. Good volleys don’t mean much in tennis without winning points. Building a deck or a bridge or a house doesn’t count till it’s finished and others are able to use it. After God finished His creation, He rested. (Genesis 2:2). Jesus is the “Finisher” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). To walk with God, to bear His image, is to also embrace His character as a finisher. If you have some unfinished projects hanging around, this might be a good time to double your efforts to complete them, in the name of Jesus.
The most difficult phase of nearly any project is found in the middle. On the front end there is usually vision and adrenaline to energize your efforts. It’s fun and exciting. Energy for the back end of a venture can usually be found in its completion. The goal line is in sight, and people are willing to work hard and sacrificially to cross it. But what about the middle phase? The vision has lost its sparkle and the end zone is not in sight. This was the challenge Nehemiah faced in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem – a kind of “mid-wall crisis.” The people had worked with all their hearts, but their strength began to give out. There seemed to be too much rubble; they began to feel like they could never finish (Nehemiah 4:6-10).
When you find yourself in that middle stage, consider these ideas – and don’t give up:
* Remember the vision. If the vision is still valid, keep working, don’t stop.
* Put your hope in God. He is the One for whom you work. You are serving Him; don’t stop.
* Consider the reward that will come – if you don’t give up (Galatians 6:9).
* Exercise sheer discipline. Your perseverance will produce character (Romans 5:4).
