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Procrastination

 Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you. (Proverbs 3:28)

 

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. (lots of people, including Benjamin Franklin)

 

          I don’t know whether the people who have said the second proverb knew anything about the first. They may have learned from the school of life, but that’s rather the thing about Biblical proverbs. They are focused on life as it is, not life as we think it should be. I’m struggling with this one. It’s so much easier to dump a jacket, the dog lead, the flashlight, or whatever other stuff I bring through the door on the chairs just inside the door. The dog doesn’t care, so why should it matter? I’ll put them away later. Procrastination 101.

          One of the good decisions I’ve made is to try to procrastinate about procrastinating. I’m allowed to put off until tomorrow what I can do today, but I’ll put off putting it off. I’m allowed to not do good to or for myself, or to or for someone else, but I’m going to put off putting it off. It connects with a lesson I learned a long time ago: do the obvious.

          Today’s verse is one of my problems with Socialism – because that philosophy is all about the government hiring lots and lots of people to do the good stuff for and to someone. The person may not lack (possibly) but there is rarely a relationship built, rarely personal connection. I do nothing for you, but I do everything for you because what is done for you comes out of my taxes. It costs me everything and nothing. It might be more efficient, but I’m not sure it’s as effective for either the one who gives or the one who gets.

          This is why I’m on my weeding crusade. It’s something good I can do for the person who can’t be here to do it because of the virus, for the people around who me who would otherwise have to look at the ugly weeds, and for myself because I get the exercise, I get to be useful, and I get to enjoy how much better the park looks when I finish even the front of a place. It might be nice to get my blog post written in the morning, but it gives me a feeling of accomplishment. It’s some goodness I can do.

    What can you put off putting off today?

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