I'll Do It Tomorrow

I went to the doctor today. During the check-up everything went great! Blood pressure was normal, sugar levels were in check, and cholesterol was down. I sat on the end of the exam table beaming and swinging my feet like a five year old.

Then the bombshell, "your sugar levels are down and you're not putting on weight, which is good, but..." Can we pause right there? I really don't like it when someone begins a new subject in a conversation with a compliment. It usually means you're not going to like what's coming. Let's continue, " ...I would like for you to lose twenty pounds."

I thought, "twenty pounds!!" Do you know how many miles it takes to make twenty pounds? About how many salads make twenty pounds? How many hamburgers are left behind in the name of twenty pounds?

I replied with a defensive grin and a profound statement of a chunky french fry-less individual, "you're right, and my plan is to lose the weight when I get back from vacation. That will be a better time to start." Doc simply crossed her arms and replied, "There is no better time."

You all understand my dilemma. We all know it well. It is the terrible urge to put off until tomorrow the difficult things we know we ought to be doing today. It is always convenient and comforting to think that there is a better time coming in the future.

How often have we all tried pushing today's tough decisions into uncertain tomorrows? "I am going to lose weight right after my vacation." "I am going to quit smoking right after I finish this pack." "I am going to quit drinking right after New Years." "I am going to become regular in church starting next month." "I will be back in church this coming week." "One of these days I am going to become a Christian." Et cetera. Et cetera. Out there somewhere, someday, somehow I am going to do what I know God wants me to do right now.

The truth is nobody ever actually started a diet, quit smoking, or turned over a new leaf tomorrow. Think about it! Today is always the only possible "day of decision."

The Bible affirms it: "Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

Our relationship with God must be in the "todays," not the "tomorrows." There is no better time!