Complete your outdoor tasks, and arrange your work in the field; afterward you can build your house. Proverbs 24:27

It’s about that time of year for one of our unique family traditions – the Easter manger.

It’s an awesome visual reminder of the connection between the humble birth of the Savior, God incarnate, and his eventual Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, and is easily transformed from an empty manger, with only some remnants of straw remaining, to the empty tomb.

It’s brilliant, it’s unique and it’s a figment of my imagination as I try to explain why we still have a large homemade, plywood manger on our front lawn at the advent of Lent and a quickly approaching Easter. And while we usually don’t have a fully outfitted Easter manger by the time Holy Week rolls around, the presence of the manger in the spring has been a long-standing tradition, one to which my neighbors have, hopefully, become accustomed.

The obvious question would be, “Why?”

For many of us, such situations seem to be a matter of adhering to that age-old maxim, “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?” The choice applies particularly to chores that are seemingly unimportant, uninteresting or distasteful.

Sadly, I am among those who sometimes fail at good decision making. While my forays into procrastination do not always take center stage on my front lawn, they have their own deleterious effect on the fruits of my life and, in that way, are a detriment to my faith life, as well. 

It is one thing to be challenged by such things as a loss of income which means bills can’t be paid, a crisis of health or loss, serving as caretaker for a loved one or working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In these cases, our responsibilities may be more than we can reasonably handle and we need to be forgiving of ourselves when we don’t accomplish everything we set out to.

 It is another thing when we abdicate control of our finances, our relationships, our homes and our futures because we’ve adopted an “I’ll get to it later,” approach. It’s all too easy to fall into the same trap with our spiritual lives as well, leaving prayer, worship and service for another day.

Psychologists explain that, for most, procrastination is not a matter of laziness, which demonstrates a lack of desire.  Instead, for a variety of reasons, we delay putting our intentions into action. We want to do something, but we don’t. We make a decision to do something else instead – usually something that makes us feel better at the moment – and inevitably suffer the consequences of this poor choice, including damage to our health.

The guilt and anxiety of procrastinating affects more than our finances when we postpone doing our taxes, or our relationships when unmet responsibilities fall on a loved-one’s shoulders.  It affects us physically and emotionally and, ultimately, is an obstacle to God’s plan for us.

Obviously, God is well-aware of the potential harm to our good wrought by a lack of self-discipline, no matter the reasons, which is why Scripture is full of teachings about the dangers of this behavior.

At times when I have looked at the state of our yard in the spring I have been reminded of a story in the book of Proverbs: “I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one with no sense; It was all overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall broken down. As I gazed at it, I reflected; I saw and learned a lesson: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest—then poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like a brigand.”

God forbid I should be a sluggard! But I will admit that I am often overwhelmed by my to-do list, and lose sight of appropriate priorities. At those times, when I return to prayer, I am reminded that God has charged us with the responsibility to be stewards of our blessings, which includes the blessing of time. Not only is good stewardship an expression of gratitude but it is a path to freedom; an opportunity to build our physical and spiritual houses to serve the Lord, using our time and responsibilities to become who we were meant to be.

After years of experience, I realized that procrastination is more than just a bad habit. It is, as Charles Dickens observed, “a thief of time.”

St. Augustine knew this, too, and his words have a prominent place on my refrigerator:  “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but he has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” 

Mary Morrell is managing editor of The Monitor.