3,652 Days

Author Mike Ashcraft says that when we fail to finish well, we live with a pile of unfinished beginnings. Before we know it, one season rolls into the next, and the important events of our lives blend together like a weekend binge with Netflix. When the next episode starts in 10… 9… 8… 7… there’s barely any time go to the bathroom, let alone to process what we just consumed. He says there is an art to drawing conclusions, to finishing well. Finishing well requires slowing down to gain perspective instead of endlessly chasing productivity and the next thing.

Author Andy Stanley often teaches that leaders and organizations should “celebrate the win,” because what gets celebrated gets repeated. He says we should define the win clearly, communicate it consistently, and then stop and celebrate when it happens.

Peter and I have been married for ten years today.

Three thousand, six hundred fifty-two days, counting the couple of bonus days for the couple of leap years that happen in a decade.

Ten years ago, we stood before our families and friends, and we made some promises. We wrote them ourselves, careful to make promises that were attainable and keepable.”

We said:

“Today I promise you this:

I will choose you every day,

Giving you the best that I have and all of my faithfulness.

I will love you with my words and my actions,

My decisions and my commitments.

Your name will be safe on my lips,

And I will always honor and protect your name.

Every day of our life together,

I will kiss you and make you laugh.

I will remind you how beautiful you are to me.

I will encourage you,

I will listen to you,

I will tell you what’s on my heart.

I will never give up our greatest advantage: these conversations.

I will chase after God as I chase after you,

Knowing that he is the author of love,

And he deserves the greatest glory and praise for our marriage.

I will honor and love your children as part of our family.

I will love you with all that I have and all that I am,

And I will make your life better than it was without me.

I will be the keeper of your story,

As we write this one together.”

On that day, Peter said, “I thought I would be emotional to make those vows to you, but in the moment, I just knew that these were words to proclaim over you.”

Back in the beginning, he said he had four goals:
To lift the world off my shoulders,
To steward what I had already started by helping to raise my boys into men,
To woo the maiden,
and to rock my whole world.

Last night he asked for a performance review.

Celebrate the win.
What is celebrated gets repeated.

Finish well.
First decade: done.