Procrastination steals away opportunities

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived ... And the door was shut."

- Matthew 25:10 (NIV)

For a while now, there has been something I have been meaning to do, but I find myself putting it off.

Although I am not usually one to put things off, I find myself dragging my feet. I'm even asking myself, "Why am I procrastinating?" Fortunately, this past week, I finally broke the cycle of being stuck when I took a step forward.

Have you found yourself putting off something until a later time? It happens to all of us from time to time. It may be something as simple as taking out the trash. But even trash left for too long eventually starts to give off an unpleasant aroma.

Procrastination is like a thief in the night. It sneaks up on us unexpectedly and steals something away. Holding off for a later time may cause us to lose out on an important opportunity.

Jesus tells us about procrastination in the parable of the 10 women who were warned to prepare for the bridegroom. By trimming the wicks on their lamps and filling them with oil, they would be prepared to watch for the bridegroom in case he arrived at night.

Five of the women promptly did as instructed. They bought their oil and trimmed the wicks on their lamps. The other five women put it off until a later time. When they finally got around to it, the bridegroom had already come and the door was shut tight for that opportunity to ever take place.

Procrastination is one of those temptations the devil uses to steal away opportunities. We get convinced in our minds to set it aside for just one more day.

However, I believe when tempted to put things off, we can pray and ask God for help with His perfect timing for that particular thing to get done.

We can pray for emotional strength and encouragement to come our way. This may come from some form of inner courage or through a connection to someone who can provide us help we need.

Another method is to try placing it on our calendar or to-do list. Sometimes scheduling it helps alleviate the problem.

But I have found, most times, taking an occasional small step toward completing the task is all it takes to break the cycle of putting it off. That's how I got through mine.

And when all else fails, when the temptations come to push things aside, we can keep reminding ourselves of the old saying, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."

• Annettee Budzban is an author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She is available to speak to your church, business, civic organization or be your personal life coach. She can be contacted at Annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.