Procrastination

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (GN)  

If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything

Ecclesiastes is such a fascinating book mostly because it can be so depressing to read.  The wisdom that is contained in this book is unbelievable.  Read all 12 chapters at one sitting sometime and see what it does to you if you sincerely, with the help of the Holy Spirit in you, concentrate on what it says. 

What wisdom this verse imparts.  It makes so much sense yet we humans tend to do opposite of what it teaches.  Unbelievers want to wait until they are “better people” before they commit their lives to Christ.  Believers want to wait until they have more time and experience before committing to getting involved in a new ministry.  So many of us are unwilling to take calculated risks, thinking that more can be done first, yet never collecting sufficient courage to do it.  The old adage of Elbert Hubbard rings true, “To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing”.

As you reflect on your life, what have you failed to do because you thought that you were “not good enough”?  What opportunity might be before you right now that you are fearful about moving forward, thinking that “conditions need to be more perfect”?  In fact, what are you doing that is impacting others’ lives?  You know that God is so powerful that He doesn’t need perfect individuals to accomplish His will.  He simply needs people willing to give what they have.  What do you have to give that right now that you know up to now that you have not been giving that will benefit others?  How about words of encouragement to others?  How about stepping out and helping someone with some task they have?  How about volunteering to do something that will help others in the church or in the community?

To wait until later, until you are better suited or better prepared or a better person, this is no excuse.  To wait until later to heed God’s calling in and for your life is flat out disobedience and, indeed, you will never “plant or harvest anything”.  Is this the kind of person you want to be?  Is this the way that you want to be remembered when you are gone?  Heed these words from Henri Nouwen: “The big question is not, ‘What can I still do in the years that I have left to live?’, but ‘How can I prepare myself for my death so that my life can continue to bear fruit in the generations that will follow me?’”