Lately I’ve been thinking about procrastination. How I tend to put off doing things I don’t enjoy. Like de-cluttering the storage room or shaving my dog—my dog is a golden-doodle and I shave her to the skin twice a year, except for her head. She’s a sight to see; white hair, like a lion’s main, covering her head, and her greyhound-like body shaved to the skin.

Shaving her is not fun for me so I put it off. I’m only bringing this up because she needed to be shaved three weeks ago. And still does. That’s the kind of procrastination that involves chores. But there’s another kind. I’m speaking of those moments God prompts us to act. And we delay, figuring we’ll get to it later.

When we procrastinate we’re acting like all time is the same. As if each season requires the same work. As if we could plant a crop throughout the year and expect a harvest. It defies reality. Farmers plant in the spring, cultivate in the summer and harvest in the fall. If they put off one step, they’ll suffer; like the Egyptian who, “Missed his opportunity” (Jeremiah 46:17).

Jesus knew no day or moment mirrored another. When the Father gave him an opportunity, he seized it.

The great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare wrote of strategic moments that must be grabbed:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,

Omitted, all the voyages of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries:

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

When the tide is high, we must board the ship and start the journey. The tide won’t wait—and neither will God-given opportunities. In the moment we sense God prompting, we must follow the example of Jesus and act.