Good Guys Finish Last
Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2009
by Laura Trahan
I was all prepared to write this pity party of an article last night as I have noticed lately more and more good people always end up finishing last in this life.
It all started recently when I noticed that the people who try their best and really work hard are usually the ones who come out on the bottom. All the while there are those who just get out of bed in the morning and are a success.
In order for the kids to understand, a process was begun. Fast forward almost a year, the truth is out-another woman was involved.
I have struggled with this for weeks. This story is all so common. Women who spend countless hours serving thinking everything is fine, then wham they have their breath knocked out of them. I just will never understand.
It seems it is always the good people that suffer.
My son works continually to be perfect. It makes us worry constantly about the pressure he puts on himself and the amount of effort he puts forth into his schoolwork, sports, etc.
Last night as we ate out celebrating his honor roll with the free meal coupon he received, I witness him once again finishing last. My two kids decided to bring their saved up quarters to play games at the local pizza place. I watched as the two of them put their quarters in the drop claw machine. I hate those machines because nine out of ten times, no one is going to win the stuffed animal. Then if they do win it always costs way more then it was worth. But that is a whole other article.
I watched as my daughter put her quarters in. I could not see the machine from our table, but I watched as both of them jumped up and down and sprinted across the restaurant. The two had the biggest grins. My son accidentally knocked in to a girl because he was celebrating his sister's accomplishment.
He ran to us to tell us that she won. He had the biggest grin. My heart pounded and I got a knot in my stomach. I knew he was going back to try and win as well. A little background on my son: if it had been him who won, he would have immediately gave it to his little sister as a gift.
I knew he was going back to try his hardest to win one as well. After all, his sister put no effort into it and won so if he tries hard, he should win, right? You guessed what happened. He used all of his quarters trying to win and never did. He left upset and frustrated wanting to try again.
I came home frustrated as well. Why do these good people always come out on bottom? I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. Then a messenger from God stepped in. Yes, there are messengers from God on Microsoft Messenger.
A close friend had her own tragedy to live through that day. Although, to hear her tell about her troubles, it was underlined and weaved with a huge does of hope.
She had no trouble listening to my issues when she had her own to deal with at that moment. Not only that, she gave me something to hold on to during the moment.
She gave me hope. She gave me a reminder. You see good guys do finish first, just not here on earth.
We do have trials and life does not always seem to end up how we planned. However, the good news is that it does end like God plans. One day we will finish first and how much sweeter the victory will be knowing all we have went through to make it to that finish line.
Her message was sweet. Her message was simple. I am going to share it now in hopes that those who are finding themselves finishing last today might find hope to hold on to until we are in first.
Psalm 62: 5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and salvation and my honor depend on God, he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
This Article has been viewed 877 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Hi Laura, Even though this story is not your normal comedy, I did have to laugh because I was reminded of the countless quarters Art drops in those machines to get toys for the maggots. I love your story and I know with parents like you, your son's need for perfection will balance out and God will use that to accomplish his perfect purpose.Thanks for sharing such a wonderful passage of Scripture. Blessings to you!! THMMM. . . .I wonder who gave me that word from God! :)Thanks for the commenting and the neverending encouragement!!You are welcome. But I blame it on God, he is the one with perfect timing :-)
Hi Laura,The good news is.........Good guys finish first on Earth too, not every successful person is a bad person. In fact most probably aren't. I believe very firmly that there are more good people in the world than bad and my experience of people would confirm that.Some times life doesn't seem fair, but that's just life. My daughter is a good person but she finishes last at sports, she's just not good at them regardless of how hard she tries, but that's ok as she's good at plenty of other things.I am sorry for your friend. I know a few women whose husbands walked out on them this year for the very same reason.Thanks Creative for commenting! I hope you had a great birthday!!
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.