Procrastination

What is something you procrastinate about doing?  I hate sorting and shredding paperwork and I have lots of plastic bins that I tend to shove papers I need to “deal with” into. Then over and over again I will tell myself, “I need to deal with that stuff” but it always seems an overwhelming task and I always find a way to postpone doing anything about it for another day.  Just one of the areas in my life that I can give in to procrastination.

Most experts in dealing with procrastination would tell us that by taking things one day at a time, one step at a time, even tasks that seem overwhelming become possible.  The first step is always the most difficult, the next step almost as hard, to keep going almost impossible. 

Character building and developing our relationship with God is something else that we can procrastinate about.  However, if we focus on what is before us and do the next right thing, we can trust God to empower us each step of the journey.

The Lord shows us how we should live, and he is pleased when he sees people living that way. Psalm 37:23 

Often our struggle is not deciding whether we should do something but in doing it now.  We may have acknowledged our need to follow God and commit ourselves to do what He has said, yet hesitate to act when God reveals His will to us, not realizing that now is the time to obey. 

Sometimes we get caught up in the "paralysis of analysis" as we think about all the possibilities – both positive and negative – that surround our situation.  We connect to the pain and disappointment of difficulties in the past.  We worry about troubles in the future.  We wonder how the whole situation can work out from where we are now to where we need to get to.  We get caught up in seeking solutions to our problems with only our limited human knowledge.  Here’s what God promises us:

If you plant goodness, you will harvest faithful love. Plow your ground, and you will harvest with the Lord. He will come, and he will make goodness fall on you like rain.  Hosea 10:12

Heavenly Father, we want to be responsible and effective people, learning and growing and becoming more and more the whole person You created us to be. We acknowledge that there’s a lot about how to do that that’s unclear to us but it’s not unclear to You.

So, once again today we want to turn our will and our lives over to Your care and look to You for what our next actions need to be.  We trust You to guide us to the right people and the right places at the right time. Help us to do our part and just take the next right step. Amen

I want to live with this promise God makes to us and let it motivate me to not procrastinate around the things God shows me to do today.

We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up.  Galatians 6:9 

Let’s keep it simple and just do the next right thing.