I walked through the front door of a friends home only to be greeted with a shout declaring I was entering at my own risk. Various pieces of furniture had been pulled from one room and dragged across the floors to another room. Piles of debris littered the floors. Paint supplies and tools of all kinds stood at the ready. Her home looked like it had imploded upon itself, but the hope of something better to come permeated the atmosphere.

I was there to help, lending a hand in the transformation. Stacks upon stacks of papers were in desperate need of sorting. Miscellaneous piles were in desperate need of homes. Either in this one or somebody else’s home. Stuff was scattered every which way that left a soul feeling as cluttered as the rooms.

I assured my friend that it would look worse before it looked better. In a matter of hours the walls of her home office were bathed in white. With the clutter gone, one could breathe again. And I also assured my friend that all her effort was not a waste of time. Piece by piece, moment by moment, the transformation would unfold itself.

Time wasting. The beloved best friend to every procrastinator. I have been there. I have served this friend well. The art of procrastination is one that is perfected over time. Oh, the irony. When we struggle to see the end result, or feel that what we desire to see looms too far off in the distance, time wasting slips in to fill the void. We often welcome it like the respite it was never intended to be.

But the process of transformation that begins when we embark upon a faith journey with Jesus is anything but a waste of time. Jesus isn’t a time waster. There simply isn’t time to waste.

We can’t claim that we’ll “get to that faith thing” tomorrow for tomorrow is never promised. And we can’t procrastinate in our spiritual journey for Jesus said we must be ready for Him when He comes to claim His congregation.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Matthew 24:42-44

We must stand firm knowing that the journey is a process. Let us not waste time worrying over yesterday or fretting over tomorrow. Let us not waste time by waiting for the “perfect” starting point. There exists no such thing. Right now is the perfect time.

Know that we enter into a journey with Jesus at our own risk. It will change everything. Know that we’ll be pulled and dragged from one emotion to another. Piles of mental debris will litter our soul. Know that there may be moments when we scream out to Jesus questioning why we feel like we’ve imploded upon ourselves.

But let us be assured that there will come the moment when we can breathe again. Bathed in white we will breathe again. Because when Jesus is at work, He wastes no time in doing so.

Father, when the desire to waste time calls to me, help me to see the big picture and goal at the end of this race called life. Procrastinating never got me anywhere. This journey of faith is a day-by-day kind of race. And I’m in it to win. In Jesus name, amen.