LEAVE OUT THE COP-OUTS
If you spend any time around little children, you will realize that they are champions at excuses for not obeying or completing tasks. If allowed to carry that fall-back into their future without being expected to fulfill requirements put upon them it will result in their failure in tasks and in the proper 
development of their character.
It is good to realize our utter dependence upon God as long as we don’t shift it from humble recognition to excuse. (1Ki 3:7) “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a lad [in wisdom and experience]; I know not how to go out (begin) or come in (finish).” (Amp) Proclaiming not knowing how to begin or end a thing shouldn’t be an excuse but rather an acknowledgement of Who does. Then, if we know Who does know how to begin and end a thing ((Isa.46:10), we can yield to Him and His principles of enablement for and completing mandates and making necessary adjustments in preferences, appetites and emotions.
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Wrapping up Tattered Ends
A huge, muscular draft horse was pulling a weighted sled in a competition. The horse was obviously straining forward with every ounce of strength he could muster and was making some progress. But he was, with every step, getting closer and closer 
to a definite stopping point. It didn’t matter that he had dragged the heavy steel sled farther than any of the other horses in the competition, he still came to a sudden halt. It just happened to be a halt that was a bit farther down the track than the other horses’ halts. The “Year End Wrap Up” theme seems to speak to the need to not drag old stuff from the previous year (or even previous years) into the new year. Even though it is a burden, we tend to wrestle with old issues that seem to never get settled or worked out and we just continue to take them along with us into the future.
Lethargy, wavering commitment, fear and neglect are some of the weights that make for burdensome sleds that we drag with us from one season to the next. There are issues to resolve before the end of this year that would be easier dealt with and resolved more readily without adding the laborious task of not having ended things well. It is time for a season in our lives where we “wrap up” what has been left at tattered ends.
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martygabler 