Don’t Wait

I have been thinking for a while that I needed to get new tires, but kept pushing it off until “tomorrow.” This “tomorrow” became today, because as I went out to get in my car yesterday I realized that my tire was flat. Even though I was planning on getting new tires today, it ended up being a day too late. Because of my procrastination, I ended up having to scramble to borrow someone’s vehicle so that I could pick up my son on time. Fortunately, things worked out and I was blessed with some good friends who could help me out in my time of need, but this was the grace covering my mistake, my sloth, and my poor planning.

This is one of my major character flaws, I am a procrastinator! I have been since at least the fifth grade, when I would wake up at 3AM to finish my homework. I wait until the last minute to do almost everything, and this leads to a lot of rushed work, and certainly not the best that I can do. This is simply cannot please God, because the work I do, and the way I do it are supposed to serve and be my worship to God. Thus I should no longer wait until the last minute to do so many things, because I should strive to do the best and be the best I possibly can be; doing so will be the best reflection of the transformation that is within.

Procrastination can be rationalized, and I have rationalized it plenty. I have said each of the following:

“I work well under pressure, therefore by leaving my work for the end, I am allowing myself to work at my best.”

“If I can do it in a short amount of time, what is wrong with that? I got an A on that paper I wrote in the last 12 hours, so if I can do that, is it really wrong?”

“Who am I hurting, other than myself by adding a little stress to my life.”

However, all these rationalizations are simply lies that I tell myself to try and be okay with procrastinating. There is no doubt that my procrastination is sin, it is what keeps a gap in my relationship with God, and prevents me from worshiping the God I love with my WHOLE HEART! God demands our hearts and our minds.

Surely, we all have some vice that attacks us at our very core, and if we don’t work on working them out of our lives they soon will define us. I often run late, and I have hurt too many of my friends and family because of this. The reason I run late is rooted in my procrastination. Thus, people who love me, have come to know me as someone who always is late. This is just one thing, but it is a way that my lack of control over my problems with procrastination has come to define me in many people’s eyes. Thus my reflection of God’s grace is less than what it ought to be, so I strive to be more organized, and procrastinate less. Pray for me that I may be one who doesn’t procrastinate, but is rather proactive, and get going on the work to which I have been called.