Skip to main content

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?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more