Ecclesiastes 7:8 — Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

We just had some trees trimmed in our yard. We were lucky enough to find a great guy to do the work. He offered a great price and got busy. By Saturday night the trees were looking great. But there was a problem … We had a small forest lying on the ground! Not to worry, our guy would be back on Monday. Only he wasn’t. Turns out his truck had to go into the shop. Not to worry, he’d be back on Tuesday… and he was. The forest is gone. It looks great.
One of the things I love about the Bible is its reality. Different books bring out different “facts of life”. In one book we find the reality of history, in another the truth of creation. In one book we find emotional truth, and here in Ecclesiastes, the Preacher provides a realistic (if cynical) view of life “under the sun”. This verse makes the simple, but oh so true, point that it’s more important to finish projects than to start! We were happy to see work start on our trees, but we were much happier to see it finished!
The second half of Ecclesiastes 7:8 makes it clear that there’s another part to this story though. It’s easy to miss. “The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Simple. But it connects to “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof”. The message is “don’t be to quick to judge”. Myra and I could have got upset when our tree surgery didn’t get finished on Saturday … but a little patience got the job done without any unnecessary aggravation.
So that’s a nice simple idea. Is that all there is to it? Well no. It goes a bit further. In fact it goes right through to the end of life. And just like the little projects, it goes both ways.
From one side, the message is “don’t be too quick to judge a life”. People may start out badly, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to finish badly. In fact Christians are committed to the idea that God offers redemption, and that the end of a life is better than it’s beginning.
From the other side, the story looks different. Once we’re past childhood we are driven for the next many years. Family and jobs occupy us, and that has an interesting effect. The responsibilities we carry drive us to achieve. For a Christian couple that means he stretches towards Biblical leadership, she reaches towards being the supporting Biblical wife and mother.
For perhaps as long as forty years we are operating within a framework that, in an odd way, provides simplicity. Then an odd thing happens. The kids move out, the job ends and suddenly the pressures ease. It becomes easy to let things slip. The Preacher would want the end of life to be as good, if not better, than the start! Finish well.