Don’t Let ’em Slide! (Audio)
Before we paid off our last car, my bride regularly opened correspondence from the credit union that gave her the ability to “skip” a payment. Essentially, the payment would “slide” to the end of the note and you could make it up there.
She never took them up on it…a 60-month note could mean your payments will last an extra 5 or 6 months. I’m not sure about the interest payments on this unpaid note, but it is not a wise thing to let the payment slide and extend your payoff date!
Maybe she’s more like ol’ Ben Franklin more than I know!
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” ~Ben Franklin Share on X
For some quirky reason of my personality, I thought about this around 4 am. Well, not about the car note, but the concept of letting things slide. It was a restless night after 3 hours of solid sleep and my brain began working. And this thought popped into my mind: “Don’t let ’em slide!”
Beside my desk is a box full of mail, receipts and other VIP (very important papers) stuff that needs to be handled, sorted, distributed or tossed. It’s difficult to look at the box because it represents how many times I’ve just put something aside instead of dealing with it head on. It’s also difficult because every time I stumble over it I realize it represents work. Unfinished tasks, and, even Lazy habits.
And then, to top it off, I get one of my daily emails from a gentleman who works hard on helping you learn how to be successful. You may want to take a gander and see if this applies to you in some way. I know it gave me some hope of that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel!
Click here for Darren Hardy’s message: Prune the Bush
Of course, we all have a junk drawer. And that represents the same thing. Instead of dealing with that single nail, or nail clipper, we just slip into the junk drawer against that day we may truly need it!
My sister’s family was living on an Alaska Island. School teachers, they were. One room school house. Moving there meant they trimmed their ownership of things most of us take for granted. For Christmas, I sent them the contents of my junk drawer! It was a hit with my nephew. Until he found that uneaten roll of Tums and asked his mom if it was candy!
We all have a pile of unfinished items. Tools, glove box, car trunk, New Year resolutions, promises, projects and tons of things we simply should not be saving. Or even thinking about. They are distractions. They needed to be pruned!
The weight of creeping through these things may be better handled by a specialist hired to make the cruel decision of what stays, and what goes. Or, it may be left behind for your loved ones to think through after you’re gone.
There is a Biblical principle here at work. If I’m sharing, then there is a spiritual principle behind my message! Just saying!
Israel was wandering in the wilderness after they left Egypt. In desperate need of food, God provides them daily provision. Except…and don’t you know there’s always an exception, there would be nothing available to them on their Sabbath. Their day of rest. The one day God says, “Not today!” Listen to Moses explain:
Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. (Exodus 16:23-27 NKJV)
Prepare today for what you need tomorrow. Even the wisest man, Solomon, teaches a similar principle. Even the ant knows what to do today so that tomorrow is taken care of!
Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8 NKJV)
Finally, Joseph unfolds the meaning of a dream to Pharaoh. Seven good years. Seven tough years. Plan to manage your wealth during the good years, and it will cover the need in the tough years. (Genesis 41) It works so successfully that Joseph is reunited with his family and he was in charge just like his own dream revealed days before his brothers sold him into slavery.
Here’s my thought. I know it’s difficult to persevere through all the tasks that lay before you. If you learn to set your priority and sweat through all those small things before you, in the time of great need or opportunity, you will be prepared to take action! I know this is so. It’s happened to me. There have been times I’ve prepared for the future, and too often I’m ill prepared to make a move when an opportunity presents itself.
Learn from yourself on this one, little grasshopper. Look at your past and see if this is not true. The slide may be fun, but is it the best way to treat the situation?