“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
Matthew 5:23-24 NLT
Procrastination entices me to delay taking action. My mind collaborates unhelpfully and suggests a dozen sound reasons why delay is the responsible action to take. Even when I am on the cusp of taking action, I am pulled back by an inner voice saying, “Now, let’s think about this for a moment.” But another part of me exclaims, “I don’t want to think, I just want to do.”
Doing faces a number of inner obstacles. Most are mirages sent to distract us from acting. Recently I sent an email to someone I was reconnecting with following an evening together. The email invited him and his wife to dinner. Known as an effective businessperson, time passed and I wondered why I’d received no reply. Now, instead of picking up the phone, I began an internal audit exploring all the reasons why he’d not replied, of which busyness was not one. They all revolved around what I might have done to offend.
The solution was simple and staring me in the face: pick up the phone. My process led me in ever more complex analysis, all based upon conjecture, none of it operating in the real world. However apparently embarrassing, Jesus says walk away from the communion rail and make good on your human relationships before celebrating the Eucharist.
The benefit is that when I take action, I pick up the phone, I deal with the issue, although I may need to deal with angst, personal disturbance of emotions and thought in executing the action, the returns after taking action are immense. The job is done, I no longer have it on my conscience and I generally feel good about having taken action regardless of the precise result. I cannot exercise control over the outcomes; my job is to take action.
QUESTION
Do you find that it’s often easier to bury something than to deal with it?
PRAYER
Lord, free me from the fears that stop me from taking the right course of action in my life.
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