HAL BRADY: Throwing in the towel

There’s a picture of a seascape. At first glance it appears to show a huge rock standing on the beach, blocking the view of the ocean. But when viewed from a distance, that same picture reveals a beautiful sunrise appearing just beyond the rock. The caption reads, “Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”

We all know people who begin whatever they begin with a great burst of enthusiasm, but it doesn’t last. When obstacles appear or the going gets tough, these people tend to throw in the towel and quit. It’s true of parents giving up on their children, children giving up on their parents, spouses giving up on their mates, college students who never make it through to graduation, politicians giving up and leaving public office and athletes leaving the team. For these and others, quitting has become a major captivity.

Now, the alternative to throwing in the towel — the other side of the coin — is finding power to see things through. How do we avoid “giving in to giving up”? There are some very practical things we can remember, which will help us when things get tough.

First, to finish something is much more important than to begin something. Even though to begin something is the first step on the road to anywhere and even though “beginning again” (recovering from a bad happening ) is important, to finish something is more important.

The biblical writer of Ecclesiastes declares, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning” (7:8). Certainly it is better to have a thing turn out well than simply to start well. Dreams turned into realities are much better than broken dreams. Accomplishments are much better than failures. How we end up is much more important than how we begin.

A highly successful sales representative was asked how many calls he would make on a prospect before giving up. He said, “It depends on which one of us dies first.” That same sales representative once made 130 calls on a prospect in one year before finally receiving an order.

The scriptures place a very high estimate on people who finish well. For example, Paul said at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). What Paul is saying is that he didn’t quit. And in reality, most things finally come down to fighting the good fight, finishing the race and keeping the faith.

Second, to finish something, we need to break it down into manageable parts. We simply do not take life in one big lump. It doesn’t come to us that way. Life happens to us one day at a time.

Former heavyweight boxing champ James J. Corbett understood this. He would frequently say, “You become the champion by fighting one more round. When things are tough, you fight one more round”

Recently, I read an article in “Time” magazine about Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. The article stated that Schultz keeps up with the business of the 12000 nationwide Starbucks stores by receiving Starbucks coffee sales figures four times a day. In other words, Schultz manages Starbucks billion dollar enterprise one day at a time.

Some say that the trouble with life is that it happens everyday. But that’s also the glory of it. And it’s the daily nature of life that allows us to finish something we start by breaking it up into manageable parts.

Third, to finish something, we have to be connected to the source of our motivation. How did the Old Testament figure Joseph handle all his adversity and let endurance have its full effect in his life? Joseph’s jealous brothers through him into a well and later sold him into slavery. His boss’s wife tried to seduce him, but he remained honorable. Feeling rebuffed, the wife lied about Joseph, and he was thrown into prison. But when at last he was reunited with his brothers in Egypt, Joseph, who had risen to the position of Secretary of State. said. “It was not you who sent me here, but God”(Genesis 45:8). There’ the secret. Joseph knew God as the Source of his motivation.

So what is Joseph’s message to us? Don’t give up; don’t throw in the towel. Keep focussing on God, and know that we don’t have to bear our burdens or face our challenges alone.

The Rev. Hal Brady is an ordained United Methodist minister and executive director of Hal Brady Ministries, based in Atlanta.