A Visit to the Locksmith

Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly."

John 13:37

I fixed the lock on my car yesterday. It is no big deal, really, until you consider that I have not been able to open the driver's door for several years now. It's a chronic problem that I never bothered to deal with until my dad insisted a couple of days back. And what did it cost me? 20 minutes and 200 Naira. That's it. 20 minutes to deal with a several-years-old problem. Why I didn't deal with it earlier, I have no idea. The solution was always so simple but going out of my way to do it always seemed prohibitive. I look back and remember how many times I had to walk round the car to open the passenger-side door. The ladies thought it was chivalry but I knew better.

It's the evil we call procrastination. We all deal with it on a day-to-day basis and what we lose because of it is incredible. I have only to look back at the year passed to see just how much I put things off and what they cost me. Deadlines missed, plans spoiled, opportunities spurned. All because I chose to leave things undone. Someone has joked, "Why do today what you can leave till tomorrow." We may think that it is funny until we realize that perhaps, to a large extent, that is how we have been living our lives up to this point. What a waste! No, I prefer to ask myself, "Why leave till tomorrow what you can do today?"

It is also terribly unsettling to remember how I would go around the car to open the far door. At a moment it seems a negligible inconvenience but when you multiply that by several times a day for several years the thought becomes quite discomfiting. I wonder if this is the way we circumnavigate little problems in our lives rather than tackling them head-on. They may seem small but until they are dealt with they will continue to cause us trouble and indeed master us.

This thought reminds me of Solomon's Shulammite bride in Song of Songs 2. "Quick! Catch all the little foxes," she cries, "before they ruin the vineyard of your love." She knows too well that it's the little things that complicate the big things. The same principle applies to work, business and, yes, love.

Have a lovely Valentine's Day.

With love, Doosuur.