Skip to main content

Procrastination Problems



Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT

Are you someone who hesitates, waiting for perfect conditions to get a job done? Have you said, “Once the weather turns warmer, or colder, or when Christmas is over I’ll organize the closet, start that diet, begin a regular quiet time”? We’re all guilty at one time or another of putting off tasks. If it’s a regular habit, it’s a problem. Conditions will never be perfect to start or finish anything. It’s like the couple who waits until they have enough money to have a baby. What’s enough money? Most of our reasons for not doing something are pretty lame. We excuse ourselves when we know we should have a regular quiet time and we should lose weight to be healthier. Why is it so difficult?  Fear plays a big role in procrastination. We’re afraid of failure. Guess what! We all fail and have to start over many times in life. Solomon tells us that the person who waits for perfect conditions never accomplishes anything.

God understands our weaknesses, but He expects us to ask for help when we’re faced with difficult or even tedious tasks. Paul says in Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Through Christ. He is the one who is strong and wants us to succeed. It’s only by His strength that we accomplish anything. What are you afraid of beginning? It doesn’t matter how big the task or goal is, Jesus stands ready to help. You only have to ask. What are you waiting for?

In the Garden Vegetables that can tolerate colder temperatures can be planted earlier than more tender varieties. Greens, peas, and beets are early starters. String beans, corn, and squash should be planted after the danger of frost is past.
 
Excerpt from Gardens of the Heart available at Amazon or the e-store. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Victim of Circumstances?

 The article below has been getting a lot of hits lately, and I thought it may be time to repost it. A couple of weeks ago, I took the picture below. I thought it pretty much sums up our life journey. We never know what's around the corner for us.  Circumstances change in seconds some days. Whether the circumstances of life are good or bad, we're fond of blaming them for how we behave and think. Here are a few of the well-used excuses:  "I'm a victim of circumstances.""The situation is impossible." "The circumstances are beyond my control." "Under the circumstances"...fill in the blank. Funny how principles, self-control, and  positive thinking can go out the window when we're "under the circumstances."  And lest you think the author is above blaming circumstances, she is not. I've used most of the excuses above, whether spoken or unspoken.  An imprisoned and wrongly accused Jewish C...

The Castile Knapper

It's always fun to have family members who have a bit of notoriety because of interesting pursuits. My husband's cousin, Ken Wallace is one of those.  Ken is an artist who works in stone as a flintknapper. Flintknapping is the ancient art of shaping tools and weapons from pieces of stone. Knapping was part of the survival skill set of Native Americans. Arrowheads, knives, hatchets, and more were shaped from raw pieces of flint or chert.  Ken knapping at the Wallace Reunion Ken became interested in this process back in 1985. One of his favorite pastimes was searching fields for arrowheads, both of which are pretty plentiful in Western New York. Freshly plowed ground in rural areas often yields many different types of arrowheads since the Iroquois were the original residents of what are now corn fields and cow pastures. Fascinated with how the Iroquois made their weapons and tools, Ken started to try and recreate them. He says a lot of trial and error were involved in the...

Second Chances

Tonight, I'll be teaching a women's Bible study at our little church on the border. We're studying the book of Jonah. It's a familiar Sunday School Bible story, many of us have heard over the years. It's easy to focus on the "great fish" and there have been innumerable debates over the actual "great fish" that swallowed Jonah. However, the fish is a minor player in this book. The real focus of the four short chapters is the dialogue between God and Jonah. God begins the conversation with Jonah, who's a well known prophet in Israel. He tells him to go to Nineveh, a great city in Assyria and tell them that God's judgment is coming. Now the Assyrians were Israel's archenemies, despised and hated by any self-respecting Israelite. There was a reason for this. The Assyrians were unspeakably cruel and wicked. Israel had been captured, plundered, and massacred by these people. Judgment for the Assyrians was probably music to the prophet...