Stop Procrastinating!

Let’s dive right into some of the most common procrastination excuses I hear – and well, also excuses that I make myself!

“I Don’t Really Need To Do It Right Now … “

The grand daddy of all procrastination excuses.  So seductive, because there is a little truth to it.  We don’t have to do it, although we may suffer a bit down the road.   That’s just a risk we take…right?

When we make this excuse, what we’re really saying is - “I don’t want to do this, and I’m secretly hoping that it’ll either go away, or I’ll eventually feel motivated to actually do it.” Many of us use this excuse knowing full well we’re procrastinating – waiting for that excitement and adrenaline rush that’ll push us through that all-nighter, and “successfully” finish on time.  Other common phrasings include “There’s plenty of time” and “I can always do it tomorrow.”

“I’ll Start After …”

Sound familiar? I know I’ve been there. Some of my favorite examples of this excuse include “I’ll start…” -

• … right after I do the dishes
• … right after I clean my desk
• … right after I make one last phone call

This is procrastination, plain and simple – we don’t want to do the difficult tasks that we really should be doing, and we put things off by making excuses and doing “just on more thing.” Surprise, surprise – for me, that “one more thing” often ends up being one of my little procrastination hangnails.


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Sleeping Through The Storm

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the old man's response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

Where to take it from here......

When you're prepared, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God.

Author Unknown

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2007 Candace House, All Rights reserved. Email info@candacehouse.org for permission to use.

Struggling To Breathe

For the last 3 years I have been having difficulty breathing. I suffer from asthma attacks at least once a year. So of course what have been running through my mind are breath, breathing, and the ability to breathe.

Not only a person suffering from asthma has a hard time catching their breath, there are other things that make it hard to breathe from time to time. I'm sure you can all relate. Maybe some one you are in conflict with walks through the door and it causes you to catch your breath. Or a sense of foreboding comes over you as you anticipate something awful or unpleasant happening, and there is tightness in your breathing and in your voice. Or you fear the unknown, you fear the worst, and suddenly breathing becomes a bit more difficult. Or you feel guilty, you have regret, and it weighs heavily on your chest. Or we feel overwhelmed by everything that is going on in our lives and we have a mild case of hyperventilation.

All of our stress and anxiety and fear seem to locate particularly in our chest, and we say, "I can't quite catch my breath." On the other hand, when we feel a sense of well being and wholeness, we say, "We breathe more easily and deeply." There's both a physical and spiritual dimension to breath and our breathing.

It's important for us to realize that when the scripture speaks of the Spirit, and especially as we ponder the coming of the Spirit of God to people, we're talking about the breath of God. The Ruach of Yahweh. which is both Spirit and Breath.

Genesis 2 declares that all creatures have life from God. To be alive is to have a relationship with God. To be able to breathe is to be sharing the very breath of God. All living beings share, in some sense, in God's Spirit. Yahweh has come to give us Chayah which is life and means to live, let live, restore, revive, make alive, renew, God saves.

I watch my grand baby and see how deeply she breathes from the diaphragm when she sleeps. She is taking in such deep breaths and expelling with the same energy.Have you ever noticed how freely little kids breathe and laugh and live? But as we grow older life happens to us, and over time our ability to breathe get shallower. Fears, anxieties, guilt, regrets and disappointments settle on our chest and weigh us down.Our ability to live the Abundant Life is compromised because of shallow breathing.

What is it that is causing tightness in your chest these days? What is it that is causing you to breathe a little more shallowly? What is it that weighs so heavily on your chest that is stopping you from living life to the fullest?

Can you let it go for a minute and breathe, breathe in the RUACH(Breath/Spirit)of God.

Yahweh is as close to you as your next breath. And just as we share the air he provides daily, so we share the Spirit of God. He is ever as close as our next breath.

Are we so caught up in our day to day struggles that we forget, to breathe, to receive the breath of God, the Spirit of God?

Have you ever seen a little child get lost from their parents? They can't catch their breath to tell you the names of their parents because they are struggling to catch their breath. Their little chest is heaving up and down and they are hiccuping not able to articulate helpful information. You have to first calm the Child's fears by telling them they are not alone and together you will find their parents. Once the child is calm they are able to share the information you need to help them.

That is the same thing the Father wants to do for us. He has sent His Breath to calm us and to point the way to Him and to say all is not lost. "I will never leave or forsake you for Lo I am always with you always, even to the ends of the earth."

Cast aside all of your fears, your anxiety, your hurts, your disappointments, your guilt, your mistake, your sins, your feelings of inadequacy and your need to succeed. Lay them at the Masters feet, and leave them there

"Now Breathe in The Ruach of Yahweh"

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2007 Candace House, All Rights reserved. Email candace@ruachchayah.org for permission to use.