Many people have the philosophy "Ready, aim, aim, aim." They never get around to doing anything. They aim to do this, or aim to do that, and someday they aim to do something great. They aim but they never pull the trigger. Many times procrastination leads to discouragement and depression. We put off doing something and then it gets bigger and more difficult so we put it off again. Our philosophy becomes, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow." Now the molehill has become a mountain, and you're really depressed. My advice is – just do it! If you have to eat a bunch of frogs, go ahead and eat the big one first. Get it over with.
When I was a practicing psychologist people called to tell me that they were too depressed to get out of bed. I would say, "You have to get out of bed." They would say, "I'm too depressed. How do I get out of bed?" I would say, "Take one foot and put it on the floor and raise up. That's how you get out of bed. Do it." I've done it. I've gone to work depressed. I've preached depressed. I can't tell someone to announce: "Charles is depressed and we won't have church this weekend." I think I've even preached on depression while depressed.
My friend's first patient was a girl in college who was depressed because she couldn't seem to get her homework done. She came to see him, and instead of doing psychotherapy with her and having her lie on the sofa and talk about her mother, he suggested they work on homework for the first thirty minutes and then talk the next thirty minutes. He found that when she finished her homework she wasn't as depressed. He ended up having her do homework. When she got something done she started feeling better about herself.
A farmer said that lightning struck an old shed and saved him from having to tear it down. The rain washed his car and saved him from that chore too. When asked what he was doing now, he replied, "Waiting for an earthquake to shake the potatoes out of the ground."
What are you waiting for? The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining. There is a difference between living in the waiting room and waiting in the living room. One of these days is none of these days. Whatever sits on the shelf rots. There are no perfect and ideal situations. You may end up like the young man who vowed to never marry until he found the ideal woman. Unfortunately when he found her she was waiting for the ideal man. One cannot wait until the entire army is in perfect condition before facing the enemy. General McClellan was waiting for the army to get ready in the first year of the Civil War. President Lincoln asked if he might borrow the army if McClellan wasn't going to use it.
No one can borrow the resources God has given you. Dreams without deadlines become nightmares. Abraham didn't have a destination but he packed up and left home. Moses didn't have all the details, yet he walked into Pharaoh's palace. If you wait until you're really sure, you'll never take off your training wheels.
Three turtles went on a Sunday afternoon picnic. One carried the basket of food, one carried a jug of turtle-ade, and the third turtle didn't carry anything. They got everything set up and then felt raindrops. The two turtles agreed that the one who carried nothing should go back and get the umbrella. The third turtle said, "No, because you'll eat all the turtle food and drink all the turtle-ade, and I won't have any." Finally, he agreed to go back for the umbrella. One hour, two hours, three hours went by, and then one day, one week, and two weeks. One of the turtles said, "Well, I guess we can eat the turtle food and drink the turtle-ade because he's not coming back." Then they heard something over in the bushes say, "If you do, I won't go."
Most of us are like that turtle. We're afraid that if we jump out there and do something we might miss the picnic. The truth is, we will miss the picnic by not trusting God and doing our part. Don't you think it's time to take off the training wheels?
