Shade Tree Wisdom 10/24/12

              “Procrastination is my sin,
               It brings me naught but sorrow.
               I know that I should stop it.
               In fact I will – tomorrow.” –G Pitzer

          No, I was not procrastinating. The machine crashed, so I called a tech and he replaced the crashed modem with a refurbished one, which worked for several hours and crashed. SO, call for another tech, and he grumbled that the other tech had used that modem. He said, “I’m giving you a new one”. So here I am, finally, connected with the internet again and explaining to you why I have not been procrastinating.

          Procrastinating means putting off till later.

          St. Augustine confessed:
              “I, convinced by truth,
               Had nothing at all to answer but those dull
               And drowsy words, ‘anon’, ‘anon’.”

          Mark Twain chimes in,
              “Never put off till tomorrow
               What you can put off till the day after tomorrow.”

          A dangerous philosophy.

          For example let me lead you back to the days when Israel was standing on the border of the Promised Land. Moses was not reluctant. He sent 12 to spy out the land. Remember, God had been preparing them for this, They had His WORDS, they had His promises to stand by them, and they had examples of God’s rich blessings as they left Egypt. And the report about the land was exciting.

          But some of the spies “spread among the people a bad report”, they said, “There are giants in the land”. Joshua said, “We can do it,.” Remember, the Lord has promised. But they did not go.

          The cost of their spiritual sickness was High. They were doomed to wander in the wilderness 40 years, till all people older than 20 years were dead.(Numbers 14,33)

          Procrastination always has a cost. For one, the longer we put something off, the worse it looks. It misses God's promised blessings, squanders opportunity. Remember Abraham, “He went out, not knowing”, and discovered riches and blessings for us also. Genesis 12.

          There is a little poem titled “Around the Corner” by Charles Towne. Parts run like this:
              “Around the corner I have a friend,
               In this great city that has no end.
               Yet days go by, and weeks rush on,
               And before I know it a year is gone….
              “Tomorrow, I say, “I will call Jim,
               Just to show I’m thinking of him.. . .
              “Here’s a telegram, sir”
              “Jim died today.”
               And that’s what we get,
               and deserve in the end.”

          So, do not procrastinate.

GPD 10/24/12