I'll get to that tomorrow!

Famous last words!  Yet, this is the procrastinators dream sentence.  Many of us don't think of ourselves as procrastinators and yet if we are really honest with ourselves we will admit we are or at least we do.  I have the perpetual list of tasks that need my attention both in my personal life and in my home.  Sometimes I put things on the list knowing good and well they won't be addressed anytime soon.  But at least I put the task on the list!  That's something, isn't it?  "Don't do today what you can put off for tomorrow."  Sometimes the "thing" we do has no impact on us or the world we live in.  Whether I mow the grass in the winter won't change a thing.  The grass where I live grows but very slowly during the winter...and it rains all the time!  It's on my list anyway.  We set ourselves up to procrastinate on January 1 every year.  This year I'm going to...  Yeah right!   I'm going to lose that weight, exercise more, keep in touch with people more, make peace with my enemies.  The list is endless and usually no later than January 7th we have abandoned the resolution list anyway.  This form of denial is filtered with "words" other than "denial" but mean the same thing.  There are two elements that procrastinators use daily in their lives: justification and rationalization.  Justification tells us that chocolate chip cookies contain at least 3 if not 4 of the food groups so they can't be bad for us.  Okay, there is rationalization in there too!  They go hand in hand.  What does procrastination cost us?  Maybe nothing is the issue is small an doesn't affect anyone.  Perhaps the cost is greater though.  What if procrastination keeps you from fixing that car problem only to have your wife break down that night on a dark deserted highway?  What if that stair you have been intending on fixing breaks and Mom falls breaking her hip?  Consequences of procrastination affect more than the perpetrator.  It's the same in your personal life.  Procrastination may keep you from saying "Hi" to that girl/woman you have a crush on and she is now seen on the arm of your best friend or worst enemy.  Sometimes there is a still small voice that encourages you to risk and just do what you know you are supposed to do.  We try to override the voice with our "logic" and the result is nothing because we have done nothing.  In each of us there is a still small voice that encourages right and good.  That's the voice of God.  I'm glad that God didn't procrastinate coming to save mankind.  I'm sorry that I put off knowing Jesus even though I knew of him.  What that cost me and others is way beyond where my mind can go!  Sometimes that still small voice tells us to "not do" or simply "no".  That is not procrastination...it's a life saving direction and needs to be listened to.  So, let's not pretend that we are in charge and the worlds functions because I do this or don't do that.  Let's not procrastinate when we are asked to believe in Jesus and follow him in all the areas of our life.  Let's count the cost of our procrastination on others and no longer be a stumbling block to them.  Maybe today our list will be replaced with line items that really do count and really do need to be accomplished.