In all aspects of life--we see these abandoned buildings. Many homes present the spectacle of abandoned dreams of love. For a time, the beautiful vision shone--and two hearts tried to make it come true--but they gave their dream up in despair, either enduring in misery--or going their own sad and separate ways.

So life everywhere is full of beginnings, which are never carried on to completion.

There is . . .
not a soul-wreck on the streets,
not a prisoner serving out a sentence behind prison bars,
not a debased, fallen person anywhere--
in whose soul, there were not once visions of beauty, high hopes, holy thoughts and purposes, and high resolves of an ideal of something lovely and noble. But alas! the visions, the hopes, the purposes, the resolves--never grew into more than beginnings. God bends down and sees a great wilderness of unfinished buildings, bright possibilities unfulfilled, noble might-have-beens abandoned; ghastly ruins now, sad memorials only of failure! ~ J. R. Miller

Sadly, there are many good books I have started, but never finished. Embarrassingly, I have even made promises I haven't kept. But one work I cannot afford to abandon, and dare not even think of neglecting, is the honor, duty, and privilege of being the Prophet, Priest, Provider, and Protector of my family. It is the work God himself has given me to do... and it's not easy. I've stayed up nights, lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how to make all the pieces of my family puzzle fit together. I pray, I read God's Word, and I seek wise counsel. I fight, I win, I stumble, I get back in the fight and win again. Building a godly family can leave you bruised, wounded, and exhausted. Marriage isn't for wimps; it's for warriors. But the glorious structure of a home that is full of love and the glory of God has a beauty and value that cannot be compared to any man-made building. I cannot fail at family. I must finish the good that God has begun in my home. And I have confidence that my family will not only survive, but thrive. That assurance comes through trusting in the integrity and faithfulness of my Heavenly Father. He keeps his promises and I stand on them. "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will be complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" and "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Kirk Cameron