Media Missionary Focus

Homework, Bicycles and the Art of Procrastination

“But Dad, I’m using a system.”

OK, although I was annoyed, I was also a bit curious. “What do you mean you ‘have a system’?”

“I’m going to do my homework every other day. It’s due on Friday, so I’ll do it on Tuesday and Thursday night.” Of course this conversation was taking place on Monday, which according to Dmetri’s new “system” made it a “free” day. But I wasn’t buying.

“Dmetri, how about if you just start your homework on Monday night, and if you get done before Friday, the days you have left will be free days?” Now Dmetri wasn’t buying either.

“But Dad, I have a system already!” At this point I invoked my executive privileges as head of the house and declared my system to be the one that Dmetri would use. But being the true procrastination artist that he is, he put off the bigger assignments to work on the simple things in a very slow, daydreaming kind of way, so as to put off the difficult as long as possible. He hasn’t, however, gotten to the point that I did when I was in school; I just simply didn’t do the homework and relied on getting A’s on the tests and quizzes in school to balance things out to a passing grade (let’s hope he doesn’t read this posting either!).

Strangely, yesterday the thought struck me that I was doing a similar thing. Not with homework, but with exercise. My current exercise poison of choice is bicycle riding to and from my office / studio. Most mornings I get up somewhat less than excited about the upcoming peddle journey through the traffic, dust and diesel fumes. Now I know that the exercise is important for controlling my blood pressure, weight and stress level, but I still at times put it off by finding something that requires my use of the car or motorcycle for the day. Some of those days I will go out and do some type of exercise later, but usually I just figure “I have a system, and this is a free day.” Sounds kind of familiar.

OK, homework and exercise is one thing, but devotional time is another. Or at least it should be. My problem is that often it’s exactly the same thing. I get up in the morning and tell myself some excuse for why I can’t pray and read my Bible right then, and justify it by telling myself I’ll do it later, but later never comes.

Somehow, procrastination seems like something we need to stop in Dmetri in regard to his homework and chores and things, but it seems a lot more minor when I’m looking at myself… or maybe I’m just not seeing it clearly because of that log in my eye.

Our two boys, Dmetri and Alex, are great! Sure there are moments when I long for some piece and quiet, but they have brought wonderful things into our lives. And of all those wonderful things, I think the one thing that has meant the most to me is the mirror factor. That’s the amazing ability they have to show you something about yourself acted out in their lives. It’s uncanny! Almost anything they do, if I sit back and take the time to think about it, tells me something about myself! Granted, I don’t always like what it says, but it does speak volumes.

So Dmetri and I need to work on our procrastination (like me having put off doing this posting for a day or two…opps).

posted by Troy In Cambodia @ 11:58 AM