Procrastination

They took it out of the bag and unfolded it.
A beautiful quilt that my husband’s sister made for her youngest brother.
We were all amazed at the beauty of the quilt and its significance.
Each square was actually an old jersey or t-shirt from a sports team.

She made the quilt for her nephews.
She used their old baseball shirts and even their dad’s coaching patches.
The quilt was colorful, stitched with precision, and made with love.
They will have it as a memory quilt for years.

What if she stopped halfway through?
What if she laid it all out and then walked away to begin another project?
Strips of memories and loose ends of thread, halfway done.
Instead of a quilt, she would have haphazard scraps of material with no purpose.

We all know people who begin projects but never finish them.
The home improvement project that is only halfway finished.
The scrap-booking materials that are put away because there just isn’t enough time.
The knitting that remains in the basket next to the chair to be resumed later.

We may see procrastination in our children.
The assignment that they did not work on until the last minute.
The project that was given weeks ago that now needs to be done in a rush.
The book that has not been started with a deadline that is fast approaching.

Procrastination.
Putting off until tomorrow what you could do today.
Not the most productive way to do things.
Not the most peaceful way to go about a task.

You can help train a child not to procrastinate.
You can check their assignments and give consequences if assignments are not complete.
It takes diligence and perseverance on their part to keep procrastination in check.
Sometimes another thing calls to them, which in their mind is of equal importance.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
So says Thomas Jefferson.
Many people joke about procrastination, but it is no laughing matter.
Many people’s lives are littered with things they start but they never finish.

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
So said Martin Luther King Jr. when discussing procrastination.
Take the first step.
Begin.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)

I am so thankful that God does not procrastinate.
Can you imagine if God stopped creating on the fourth day?
Can you imagine if God became distracted and forgot about Noah in his ark?
Can you imagine if God never got around to His plan of redemption?

But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Galatians 4:4,5)

If God procrastinated, the fullness of time would have meant nothing.
The plan of redemption would not have been a perfect one.
Jesus would not have been born to die on a cross and rise again so that we could be saved.
We would still be in our sins.

If God procrastinated, there would be no salvation.
Once we come to Jesus in faith, our sanctification begins; we are made holy each day.
God begins His good work in us and brings it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.
God doesn’t leave anything unfinished.

God doesn’t procrastinate.
God’s promises are true.
God doesn’t get distracted.
God doesn’t sleep.

God is always in the NOW.
There is no later.
God is always present; He is out of the confines of time.
God finishes what He started.

I’m so glad that He does.
We are not some unfinished, creative scraps lying around.
We are not here by accident.
We are not some random event with no purpose or meaning.

We are created in His image.
We are His children.
God made all things for His own glory.
When God finishes what He started, it brings Him the most glory.

Procrastination does not glorify God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today…(Hebrews 3:13)
Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…(Psalm 95:7)
Obey what I command you today. (Exodus 34:11)

Today.
Not tomorrow.
Procrastination does not belong in the life of a believer.

What needs to be done today that would bring glory to God?