Don’t Procrastinate – Do Things Now, Or Do (& Pay) More Later

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.’ (Proverbs 21:25) 

We live in a growing area in the city of North Port, where we are having homes built around us and on our street on a regular basis.  Our home still has empty lots around it as we bought the lots on each side of our house way back when the lots were cheap (I like my neighbors, but I prefer a bit of breathing room), and the lots behind us are still empty as well.  There are still lots of trees in the empty lots, though the hurricanes over the years have brought many trees down and have damaged many others, some that are dying or are dead.

Typically, in the empty lots next to our house, I don’t worry too much about the dead trees as they fall harmlessly to the ground within the empty lot, becoming termite food and later fertilizer for the trees that are still alive.  The only dead ones I get concerned about are those that are tall enough or are slanted in such a way as they could hit the house or driveway (and the cars parked on it, like our Jeep or my old commuter car).  But for the most part, I usually leave them alone and at some point, I hear a ‘Whump!’ from inside the house, and go out and find one of the dead trees did indeed make a sound as it fell onto the ground inside the empty lot it sat it.

But, once, there was one that I thought could hit the driveway, as it had a lean that I thought would have done this as well, but it was still alive – or so it appeared.  Thinking it would grow more roots, though the lean was caused by one of our hurricanes that struck, I found out, through procrastination in doing nothing, that the root system was damaged beyond repair, and the poor pine tree was on its final days. 

One day soon after, I was out in the yard taking care of some stuff, and found the tree looked odd; the tree fell but took a slant and got caught in an oak tree that was alive, closer to the driveway.  I noticed the oak, upon catching the pine tree in its branches, was also wilting and its leaves were turning brown.  It likely was also on its last legs, er, roots, and the hit of the falling pine tree took it out as well.

My wife also thought the oak was dead and mentioned we should get it cut down, while I figured let nature takes its course, and let them fall on their own.  But after some consideration of having two trees that are dead, while one was secure in the oak; it was unpredictable in where they would go next.  Knowing that doing nothing usually means more expense in the long run (like both trees falling on someone’s car, like the Jeep, my commuter car, or worse – a visitor’s car).  

I could not take a ‘hands-off’ approach as they may break away and fall toward the driveway (or the house), or the oak tree could uproot in a severe storm with rain and wind due to the weight of the dead tree pushing upon it.   My inaction, while perhaps not sluggish (if it had fallen as predicted it would be a ‘nothing-burger’) resulted in a situation that was now worse than before.  I called a tree service to have both dead trees (and a third one to make it worthwhile) taken down properly so they wouldn’t cause any further problems or concerns.

The brute honesty of Proverbs 21:25 is the wisdom of acting promptly, and well as having a good work ethic.  It is not only telling us to take care of issues promptly as they occur, not to procrastinate but to accomplish tasks when they arise.  We would rather do what we want to do and not what we need to do, especially when the task involves either a cost or a burden. 

It does not necessarily mean ‘work’ either; we often do the same with our health, when we develop an issue, we don’t always run to the doctor to get it checked out.  It gets worse, and when we finally go see the doctor his or her response is typically ‘you should have seen me when the symptoms started’.  I have knee issues that started about the same time COVID was starting in the US, so I waited.  Now it has gotten worse so I will have to see a specialist to see what’s wrong and I think I’ll get a similar response. 

Sometimes we do have to use God’s Wisdom to determine what we can let slide and what we need to act upon immediately.  Despite the intermittent knee and ankle pain, I think it’s more critical to take care of things like the trees, for example.  Sometimes we have to allow the trees to fall where they need to fall, but often we need to take action before something worse happens.  Involve the Lord when determining what actions to take, and don’t hesitate to take action when it is necessary.