Wednesday, July 10, 2019

“The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands” (1 Corinthians 8: 10 – 12, The Message Bible)

                Then first time I met Percy Lane, a rotund, elvish man, really smart and witty, he was handing out circular wooden tokens, about the size of a loonie, which had the letters TUIT inscribed on them. The tokens were for people who are always saying that they will get around to it (a round TUIT).

                This old memory surfaced as I have been driving around Peterborough lately. I don’t know about your city or town but there seems to be a glut of road construction projects here this year, both very large road reconstruction and many small ones, not much more than patch jobs. There are machinery, dirt and holes in the streets just about everywhere one goes. But it also seems to me that a work crew starts something and then leaves the work site and it stays that way for several days before they will get around to it, i.e. finishing the job. There is one street which has some serious water main work going on and I haven’t seen a work crew there in a more than a couple of weeks.  Another street was ripped apart over a year ago and they still haven’t finished the job.

                There are probably good reasons for the delays and interruptions but I wish, instead of starting another new job, they would just finish what they have started first.

                Mind you, the city politicians have been discussing the building of The Parkway road for the last 50 years or more, so maybe there is something in the water here.

                I should talk - a master of delay, procrastination, starting things (e.g. novels I have begun) and losing interest in projects, sometimes becoming bored and just down right lazy and not getting around to finishing the job. Now that I have very few deadlines, it has become much easier to put off until tomorrow what I should have done today. It’s a wonder that this blog gets done every week.

                Somebody, hand me a round TUIT!

                Paul was on at the people of the church at Corinth to complete a promise they had made to raise money for the poor, struggling Christian church in Jerusalem. He uses a little guilt, embarrassment, threat and finally some praise to get them to finish what they had started a year earlier.

                I think we all have had the experience of meaning to phone someone or send a card or do something for someone and we don’t and then something happens and it is too late. As it is said, the road to heaven is paved with good intentions.

The epistle of James reminds us to be doers of the word and not merely hearers of the word. Faith without works is dead. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. “For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, ‘Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!’ and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?” (James 2: 15 -17, The Message Bible)

Don’t delay in telling someone that you love him or her. Don’t put off words of praise or appreciation.  Don’t neglect a promise to someone. Don’t postpone time spent with family or friends. Don’t overlook your commitments. Don’t make excuses about those things which don’t get done. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep.  Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't.

I need to practice what I preach… Maybe tomorrow!

             Quick, somebody, hand me a round TUIT!

Dale