The Power of Perseverance over Procrastination

All of us battle procrastination at one time or another. In fact, the more creative a person is, the more susceptible he or she may be to procrastination. But we creative types also need time to think about and process what we're planning to create. Once we're ready to begin, that inspiration (plus our hard work and perspiration!) combine to form a beautiful finished product.   

      Christian author Anne Lamott writes that one day, she purchased a tiny picture frame with a one-inch-square opening and placed it on her desk. When she struggles to begin a daunting writing project, she looks at that small space and tells herself, “All I have to do is write down as much as I can see through a one-inch picture frame... All I am going to do right now is write that one paragraph that sets the story in my hometown, in the late fifties, when the trains were still running. I am going to paint a picture of it, in words. Or all I am going to do is to describe the main character the very first time we meet her... just what I can see through the one-inch picture frame.”* By training herself to start small and get at least something down on the page, she is able to overcome her tendency to procrastinate. And so can we. In fact, I think I'm going to go out and buy myself a tiny picture frame today!                          

      Biblically, what’s the opposite of procrastination? Perseverance. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Jesus's followers understood the importance of perseverance and discipline. They grasped the fact that living above the level of mediocrity requires sacrifice and a dying to self for the sake of completing the work that God has called us to do.

     In what situations is the Lord calling you to persevere today? Please POST A COMMENT below.                       

     For more on this topic, please request information about Marla's forthcoming book, Possibilityville.    



    Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), pp. 17-18. To order this book, please click on the following link: amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5915590-3058404?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177444761&sr=1-1