Congratulations!
You started
this and you finished it. Scripture tells us "not to despise the things of small beginnings."
Finishing is
good! Bible also tells us that "the end of a thing is better than its beginning."
Starting is
easy.
All of us
can start a marathon.
· Who
can finish?
o
Can
I?
o
Can
you?
Chinese
philosophers tells us the journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.
Nobody ever
talks about how many steps are required.
·
1,760,000
steps to walk 1,000 miles.
·
Who
takes step number 1.76Million?
·
Not
very many people.
Lewis and
Clark traveled 4,142 miles from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River.
·
They
were gone for 863 days
·
Averaged
just under 9 miles per day
·
7,289,920,000
steps from St. Louis to the Pacific.
o
7.289
BILLION steps
Fitbit 10,000 steps hardly compares!!
·
We
all could start that journey. Who here today could finish it?
We are here
celebrating that you finished something you started.
And that is
reason to celebrate!!
Have you
ever heard that the road to success is littered with good intentions?
·
I
have and I often live there.
·
I
always mean to do the right thing at the right time.
o
Many,
most of the times I fall short.
o
How
about you?
Lewis and
Clark are two of my favorite people out of history. I’ve read the journals
several times and they have impacted my life by the examples they set for all
of us who follow.
·
Lewis
signed all of his daily entries in his journal with, “Proceeding On.”
·
Over
the years it has taken on great meaning for me and inspired me to keep going
when I’ve been ready to quit.
·
What
would have happened to the Captains and their men (and Sacajawea and her baby)
had they stopped proceeding on?
·
They
overcame every obstacle before them to successfully complete their mission.
·
A
good question to be asked here is, “When was their mission complete?”
o
When
they determined there was no continuous waterway between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans?
o
When
they reached the Pacific?
o
When
they returned to St. Louis?
o
When
they completed their reports to President Jefferson?
You all have
begun a mission.
You have
successfully completed a portion of it or you wouldn’t be in the room today.
What is
next?
·
First,
keep “Proceeding On!”
o
You
can’t stop advancing if you want to achieve success and reach the Pacific Ocean.
o
Lewis
and Clark had no concept of the Rocky Mountains before they set out.
§ As they approached them they knew
they were gaining altitude and saw nothing but miles of snow covered mountains
ahead of them.
§ They never indicated that they even
thought about turning back. They continued to proceed on and conquered them.
·
Second,
commit to working as a team and follow your leaders.
o
About
now, 210 years ago the Captains were trying to determine which fork of the rivers
before them was the Missouri and their path to the Pacific.
§ They spent as much time in one place
as any along the journey, to be sure they made the right choice.
·
The
success of the mission depended on it.
o
Although
the men disagreed with the Captains, they replied in unity …. very
cheerfully that they were ready to follow us any wher we thought proper to
direct…
o
They had earlier said that they would complete the
mission or die trying!
o
How committed are we to our work?
·
Third, do the work!
o
All success requires hard work!
§ Wisdom can
help us keep sharp and be more effective, but even wisdom requires hard work.
o
Can you imagine hauling keel boats and later dugout
canoes loaded with everything you need for a three year trip up the Missouri
River until you can go no farther?
§ That’s
what these guys did!
§ That is
hard work!
o
At
one point, about a month from now 210 years ago, the expedition encountered
“the Greatest Sight” Meriwether Lewis ever beheld, The Great Falls of Montana.
§ Unfortunately, the Falls required a
26 mile portage around them and took almost a month.
·
From
here to SE 8th in Bellevue!
§ That was hard work!!!
§ But they did it!
o
How
hard will we work next month?
·
Fourth,
reach your goal.
o
At
some point if you start, commit and follow and do the work you will reach your
goal.
§ The men, woman and one child of the
Corps of Discovery reached their goal of the Pacific Ocean.
o
How
do we know if we reached a goal if we never set one?
§ You reached a goal today.
§ You started, committed, followed your
instructors, did the work and are here today because you did.
·
Fifth,
and finally, in today’s world, and even in yesterday’s world, you have to
finish the paperwork, or make a report.
o
I
don’t like paperwork. It is my greatest weakness.
o
But
still we must do it.
o
Part
of completing the journey for Lewis was to edit and produce his journals for
President Jefferson. They were full of scientific, geographic and anthropologic
information that would be useful to the rest of the nation and to those in
charge.
o
Captain
Clark created a map that was used for a long period of time before more
exploration was completed to add to the information his map contained.
If you have
started, committed, worked hard, stopped and not finished things in the past,
are you beating yourself up for it? If so, now is a good time to stop.
Today, you
started, committed, worked hard, reached your goal and finished the paperwork
and received a reward!
Congratulations!!
This may
very well be a small step on a long journey for you. If so, you, like Lewis and
Clark, are in for a great adventure.
Set your
next goal and Proceed On!
