Today is a National Day Calendar Celebration that some people celebrate daily. This is National Be Late For Something Day. The purpose of the day is supposed to be a release and relief for those who are uptight, schedule bound, and punctual to a fault. This gives them “permission” to relax and not be so stressed about their timing. However, for those of you who believe that “on time” means at least 15 minutes early and precisely on time means your late, throwing all that discipline out the window for a day is an impossibility. Just thinking about participating in this celebration causes anxiety and heart palpitations!
National Day Calendar says, “The holiday aims to promote the positive parts of procrastination… It certainly may be hard for some of us to do as we are taught to be punctual at all times. We are also trained to obey rules and follow regulations and schedules. In today’s busy lifestyles, the pressure to be here and be there causes us to watch the clock.
“The observance urges us to ditch the clock for the day. Not only that but to forgive those who don’t live by the clock. Consider those you know who are perpetually late. Do they seem stressed by their lateness? Or do they tend to shrug it off to your further annoyance? Attempt their light-hearted approach to time.”1
Such a lackadaisical is unnerving to the fastidious!
The premise of such a celebration is to give us time to stop and smell the roses in life. However, those who are time conscious individuals already have the time built into their very organized schedules that if the urge to stop and sniff the flora overtakes them, they can do it and still be punctual.
This was proven while we were in Alaska. One of the excursions took us to an Iditarod training and boarding camp for sled dogs. Excursions start on time and end on time because cruisers cannot be left stranded, unable to board their ship before the gangway goes up. Getting to the camp took about 75 minutes. Because our bus driver was time conscious and organized, on the return trip, we were able to stop at several scenic points to take pictures. We never felt rushed or pushed at the stops. When we arrived back at
the dock, we were perfectly on time, and we all had cameras filled with amazing pictures.
If the tour guide had been a procrastinator, thinking it’s okay to be late, we wouldn’t have done anything on time. We might have had pictures, but we wouldn’t have had time to enjoy the dogs, take a mile-and-a-half sled ride pulled by the dogs, and we would have been chasing our ship to the next port. The ship does NOT wait!
Without meaning to offend but knowing that it will, I’m just going to say it. Procrastination is a very bad habit for some that reflects a lack of consideration for others. It does not have “positive parts” as the National Day Calendar suggests. It is a bad reflection on the perpetually late individual and society does NOT think it’s just a cute quirk! Ask any school administrator or teacher. You might have three excused tardies but after that, you’re in trouble! Detentions, after-schools, and other consequences will befall the student.
Why are even three tardies allowed? Because they realize that things happen to all of us that can make us occasionally late. A flat tire, broken down vehicle, unforeseen traffic that’s moving slow or suddenly stops, or an emergency of another nature can make any of us late. However, those late arriving individuals look frazzled when they come in. When someone saunters in late, casually strolling to where they are supposed to be like the world was waiting for them, you know this is just a bad habit on their part. The schools will try to break that habit before it becomes a part of their adult persona.
Many Biblical principles can be applied to demonstrate why procrastination is something to be avoided. Perhaps the best explanation, though, revolves around what procrastination is. It is a mismanagement of time. And time is a commodity that should not be wasted.
Ephesians 5:14-16 says, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (15) See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, (16) Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The context of the passage is in regards to living our lives for the Lord, making the most of the time God 
has given us, using it for worship and service. Nothing in the Bible advocates for squandering time. Once the moment of time is passed, there is no getting it back. It has been spent.
Christian, remind yourself that life is brief which means our time is brief. Squeeze all the good you can out of every drop of it! Don’t waste the time of others by making them wait on you. Don’t tell them that their time is unimportant because you want to “make an entrance.”
Today, make the prayer of Psalms 39:4-5 your prayer. “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (5) Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.”
1https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-be-late-for-something-day-september-5
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