The Parable of the Procrastinator

Once you have lived a few years, you understand how precious is time. When you were quite young you knew there were certain things that needed your attention, needed to be done, but you were too busy. Besides, there was always tomorrow.

If you needed to lose a few pounds or cut back on your cholesterol, you could attend to that later. You knew smoking wasn’t good for you, but you had fifty or sixty years to quit! What could it hurt to have this one smoke on this beautiful evening? You were working too long, not spending near enough time with your kids, but next year it would all change. You sure weren’t going to live like this forever. There was that animosity with your sister, that enmity with your father, but it would take way too much time to dredge all that up and find a way to forgive. Someday when the fever of life was over, then you’d do it. Really, you would.

Three devils set out to conquer the world. The first devil went around proclaiming the message, “There is no God!” But even though some people acted as if there were no God, they knew in their hearts that this message was not true. The second devil announced, “There is no sin!” And again, although many people acted as if the message were true, they knew deep down that it wasn’t. The third devil was smarter than the other two. He did not attempt to change people’s beliefs. He made no attempt to argue against their deepest convictions. He simply said, “There is no hurry.”