Do It Today!

I’m a procrastinator. I struggle with it every day and I’m not proud of it. I’ve learned over time that procrastination costs. For instance, once I procrastinated about rescheduling a missed traffic court date. What could have been resolved easily, instead cost me $400 and tons of stress. You would think I would never put important things off again. But no, I find myself still stalling and thinking ”I’ll do it tomorrow” from time to time. And sadly it spills over into my spiritual life as well.

Sometimes I wonder how many blessings I’ve lost out on because of this bad habit?

More importantly, have others been robbed of blessings because I didn’t take action immediately? In Proverbs 3:27-28 it says “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow’ – when you now have it with you.”

On the surface, it seems like such a small thing to put off calling that person, cooking a meal or offering to run an errand. It doesn’t seem so bad to forget to pray for someone today when you can add them to the list tomorrow. But how do we know that God doesn’t need us on the phone, in the kitchen, in that car, or on our knees today? We don’t.

God speaks specifically to me, to us, about procrastination. He tells us not to do it. Period. The end. If you can do it, do it now. If you have it, give it today. There is no gray area, which all us procrastinators look for and love. Tomorrow is our favorite day and later is our favorite time. But if we want to become more godly we have to embrace today and now. We have to embrace discipline, which we tend not to connect to our bad habit. To me procrastination is a lack of discipline. I know that may seem harsh but think about it. What does it take to do what needs to be done, day in and day out? Discipline. So if we are putting things off without a valid reason, we’re demonstrating a lack of discipline. I’m better than that. And I think you are too.

There’s a funny thing I’ve learned over the years. When we miss out on blessing others, we miss out on being blessed ourselves. Let’s not let procrastination rob us and others.