Tomorrow Never Comes!

The above CC0 Image comes courtesy of Gerd Altmann at Pixabay.com

 

Q: What is Five Minute Friday?

A: It is a 5min free write blog event hosted by Kate Motaung. Every Thursday Kate announces a one-word prompt on her blog at 10pm EST. The link-up is open for a full week, until the following Thursday evening. For further details on how to participate please visit her blog at: Heading Home.

***       ***       ***       ***       ***

 

FIVE-MINUTE FRIDAY: Word prompt – TOMORROW

My immediate thought when I saw this prompt was of a title: Tomorrow Never Comes. I thought it was a book I’d once read by Sidney Sheldon, but a quick check shows me I am wrong.

My mind then turned to Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, who had suffered a plague of frogs, yet when Moses asked him when he’d like this plague to stop, he answered: “Tomorrow”.

Can you believe it?

Why would anyone who had suffered a nasty plague not want it to stop immediately? What on earth was he thinking?

Which then led me to think about procrastination and my problem with it. I’ve tried to break free. I think I have improved. But it is still an issue.

Take this Covid-19 virus that has descended upon and changed our lives. There were things I’d wanted to do and could very well have done, before this plague came on the scene.

Now that it’s here, I cannot do these things. Not without incurring risk. Because it involves going out and mixing with people in close proximity. I cannot, and do not wish to take this chance. Besides, measures are now in place which restrict the movements of UK citizens, so I couldn’t, even if I wanted to.

So now I’ll have to settle for second best. I’ll have to figure out a way to proceed, without doing what I should have (and could have) done earlier.

Procrastination costs. And the time and opportunity that has been lost, cannot be redeemed.

(End of 5 Mins)

Procrastination has been my unfortunate song for as long as I can remember. But I so hate those lyrics. I absolutely despise the melody. I no longer want procrastination to be the rhythm of my life. In fact, you can read my post here where I made public my decision to break with this tiresome habit.

God says we are to redeem the time. I often believe for, and ask the Holy Spirit to help me redeem (make effective) whatever time I may have left. And when I ask this, I mean in terms of how long I have left to live in this world. I mean in terms of available time left, to work on my writing projects. I mean in terms of the time I have left, to network with others, to sow seeds of loving kindness, mercy and forgiveness, or to serve his purposes.

I feel the need to do this, because I often take time for granted, along with the opportunity it affords. I’m prone to forget that any presumed window of opportunity is not guaranteed to remain open, just to fit into my schedule. A schedule of “tomorrow”, which never comes!

As we have seen with the Corona-virus, nobody knows what’s around the corner, which could completely scupper our prior plans.

People die, or leave your life for various reasons. Situations change. Things you can be depending upon, may suddenly be taken out of the equation. And then the opportunity to do that which you wanted to do, or which God had asked you to do, disappears. Puff!

This happened to me recently.

I waited to do something good for someone. I delayed because of a mixture of procrastination and hard-heartedness. I’d failed to act because I allowed offence to lodge within my heart and dictate my inclinations.

And now, the opportunity to show God that my love for him, exceeds my desire to satisfy capricious whims, has gone. Puff! Because the person in question has now departed from this world.

So, now I have to deal with the fact that I allowed stubbornness to stop me from reaching out, offering an olive branch, renewing acquaintances.

I acted no differently to Pharaoh. Instead of grabbing the opportunity to be rid of the emotional frog in my life, and be free from accusatory thoughts and wrong attitudes that plagued me, I procrastinated. I held onto them until “tomorrow”.

In my heart, I was resisting God’s Word and clear requirement. With that resistance, my mind whispered “tomorrow” whilst my stubbornness decided “Not yet!”

God warns us about rebellion. He says that those who are often reproved but harden their hearts, will be cut off without remedy (Proverbs 29:1).

Of course, I don’t want this to be my lot. I don’t want the story of my life to be written with the quill and ink of selfish and disobedient conduct.

God’s Word also warns that “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2 KJV). There is a finite window of opportunity for you and me to walk in God’s ways… to be obedient to his will. Nobody knows when that window will close. So, waiting until tomorrow, a tomorrow that may never come, could work to our detriment.

If you are procrastinating about something you know you should do, or something God has instructed you to do, please pay heed dear reader, and learn a valuable lesson from me.

I pray for myself and for anyone else who struggles with similar issues. I pray that God will work within our hearts… that he will change us and bring us to that place where we both desire to obey His will, and actually do so, without delay.

Wishing you a peace-filled and victorious week.

With love,

Carol (aka Lady Cee)

Author of: Petitions From My Heart

AMAZON UK – Print: click here; E-book: click here

AMAZON US – Print: click here;  E-book: click here

 

 

Did you enjoy reading this post? If so, please share your thoughts in a comment box below. Do you know someone who would benefit from its message? Then please don’t hesitate to share it. Thank you.

 

Advertisement