The Weekly Encourager - July 24, 2013 - Progress Report

I donated another load of things today. It's a slow process, but I'm getting somewhere. I am making progress little by little. I'll never forget the excellent advice I got from my prayer partner Gail Baker years ago. As a busy homeschooling mom with three active kids, yet needing to organize her house, she told me, “I just clean out one drawer every week.” It sounds simple, right? But how will you get the whole house done if you only sort one drawer (or one box or one shelf) a week? I am here to testify that it IS simple and IT WORKS.

So many times we are overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done, and we don't know where to start, so we don't start at all. This is called procrastination. Did you know that many procrastinators are really perfectionists in disguise? We don't want to start something until conditions are perfect. I won't date until I meet the perfect guy. I won't try out for the team until I'm the best player. I won't invite those new folks over until I re-paint my dining room. I won't start cleaning out the closet until I have a whole day free. It goes on. After Gail's encouragement, I went home and organized my sock drawer. Yes, that's it, just my sock drawer. It felt so good that I did another drawer the next week, and so on. That simple concept built a habit that changed my life.

I remember getting my whole family to agree to work for ONLY ONE HOUR on our garage. I promised them that when the hour was up, we'd stop, and I kept my word. Guess what? With four of us working steadily for ONLY ONE HOUR, we got a lot done. The next Saturday, we did the same thing. Four more man-hours. That progress inspired me to do a bit more during the week, and soon the job was done. [Tip: I have found that people, particularly men, do better when given a specific time. They seem much more cooperative when asked, “Can you help me for one hour today in the garage?” instead of “Can you help me clean the garage today?” One implies hope for well-earned release, the other breeds dread of a long, yawning deficit of a day.]

My friend Karen Royer sent me a link to a nice little article on this topic, so now my blog will reference another blog! On the Proverbs 31 Ministries site, Lisa Allen writes, “The truth is, if I know I should take steps toward [a goal], then my response should simply be to ask myself, 'What can I do today?' and then do it. I don't have to have a plan for a month or even a week...only today....As I've observed this pattern of procrastination within myself, I find when faced with a desire and necessity to make a change for the better, sometimes I wait until I can do it perfectly before I'm willing to begin. Scripture tells us though, 'If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done!' (Ecclesiastes 11:4)...Taking that first step is the hardest and yet most important step. Even a baby step toward a goal is better than staying in place. Aiming for progress rather than perfection can be quite freeing....imperfect action is better than perfect procrastination.” Well said!

There have been so many times in this huge task that I've been tempted to slack off. The world, the flesh, and Satan himself whisper little hints in my ear. These little whisperings are the voice of procrastination, who keeps company with idleness, waste, and despondency. Spend too much time with these folks and you end up with rot and ruin. You won't find procrastination on God's path of righteousness.

It really doesn't matter how big the task is. For those of us who are beloved of the Lord, with access to His mighty power, size is not a valid excuse. When Moses was told to lead God's people across the Red Sea, did he procrastinate because the water was too wide and too deep? No way. He started walking! If you want to cross the water, you have to get your feet wet. (For some of us, that means the sock drawer. God will show you what you are to do; you probably know it already.) Although progress on my projects is slower than I'd prefer, by God's grace, at least I'm moving in the right direction. Thanks be to God!

Making progress with a faithful God,

j 

The article quoted above is “Progress or Procrastination?” by Lisa Allen, July 22, 2013. Here's a link:

http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/progress-or-procrastination/