Finish Lines and Hand Offs
Daily Scripture
Deuteronomy 31:7-8; Numbers 27:18, 20
Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in front of all Israel, “Be strong and brave, because you will go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them, and you will help them take possession of it. The Lord is the one who is going before you. He will be with you. He won’t fail you or abandon you. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.”
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua, Nun’s son, a man with spirit in him, and lay your hand on him… Confer some of your authority on him so that the whole Israelite community will obey him.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Moses never set foot in the land he’d spent forty years walking toward. Rabbinic scholars and commentators have pondered why God kept Moses from entering the land promised to the Israelites. What was Moses’ failure? In short, he failed to strike a rock, but really, it was his lack of trust in God. Moses’ inability to enter the Promised Land was not simply a punishment for striking the rock but a reminder that every leader is called for a particular season. The generation Moses led out of slavery needed a different kind of leadership than the generation preparing to live in freedom, showing that faithful leadership requires adapting to the needs of the moment and empowering others to carry God’s work forward. The very last thing Moses did with his authority was hand it, publicly and deliberately, to someone else. Moses made it to his finish line, and then handed off leadership to the next leader.
That’s a different picture of mentorship than the one many people carry around. It’s easy to assume you need to have your own story fully resolved before you’re allowed to speak into someone else’s. Moses shows the opposite. You don’t have to get it all right to invest in someone else. Sometimes the most honest gift you can give another person is your hard-earned lessons.
- Is there something in your own life still unresolved that you’ve assumed disqualifies you from helping someone else? What would it look like to set that assumption down?
- Who in your life is standing at the edge of something you never got to finish yourself? Is there a specific way you could pass on some of what you’ve learned to them this week even without a tidy ending to hand along with it?
Prayer
Faithful God, thank you for using imperfect people to bless the ones who come after them. Forgive me for the times I’ve stayed silent because I felt unqualified to speak. Give me the courage of Moses, willing to bless what he wouldn’t get to see. Help me name someone today I can encourage, even from an unfinished story. Amen.
GPS Insights
Rachel Grgurich
Rachel Grgurich serves as an Events Specialist for ShareChurch. She’s a small-town Missouri girl who is never far from good coffee, great sushi, or a meaningful conversation. Rachel enjoys exploring local coffee shops, reading, writing, going to the movies, taking long walks, and is an aspiring traveler who loves discovering new places.
Rachel loves being an aunt to her nephews and niece. She is also a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and owns her own counseling practice. She is passionate about helping others feel seen, connected, and supported as they grow in faith and community.
We all make mistakes. It’s part of being human.
But…we often forget to give ourselves grace. To make meaning from our challenges and mistakes. To learn from them instead of letting them define us. We forget that we can still pass the torch.
We disqualify ourselves. We decide that we don’t have anything valuable to offer because of what we’ve done or where we’ve fallen short. But if anything, maybe some of our most difficult experiences have given us something to offer someone else.
We say, “I’ll help someone when I have my own life figured out.” “I’ll mentor someone when I’m more successful. ” “I’ll encourage someone when I’m not
struggling with the same thing.” “Who am I to tell someone else what to do when I haven’t even gotten this right?”
We keep moving the goalpost because we think we’re not ready. We tell ourselves we’ll start when we’re more qualified, more healed, more confident, more successful,
or more certain.
We will probably never feel 100% ready. And that’s okay.
I don’t pretend to have it all figured out. Whether I’m talking to people in my personal life or working with clients, I’ve noticed that there’s something people often find comforting when I say, “I’m human and I don’t know either.”
We don’t have to pretend we’re above the struggles we’re helping someone else navigate. Sometimes saying, “I’ve been there too,” is more meaningful than having the perfect answer.
Start before you feel completely ready. Learn from the mistakes you’ve made. Share what you’ve learned with someone who might need it. And when the time comes,
pass the torch.
Maybe the goal isn’t to leave behind a perfect story. Maybe it’s to leave behind something that helps someone else keep going.
Moses didn’t get to walk into the Promised Land. But others did. And maybe that’s enough.
