Many of us leave things until the last minute. I am afraid I am a particular culprit in this regard. I often leave things until the last minute, whether it is writing a sermon, preparing for a meeting, or writing a magazine article (which is now overdue as I write whilst sat down awaiting an evening meal at my in-laws house). I have a tendency to leave things until rather late in the day. Maybe it's the adrenalin or something, but I suspect it has a lot to do with being too busy. Although I have to say that leaving things until later on really helps me to be more creative - that's my excuse, anyway! 

One of the problems with being last minute is that it can stress out those around us who like to plan things well in advance or who like to know what is going on in reasonable time before something happens.  It can cause stress all-round. There is nothing wrong with being last minute or with planning well in advance, it's just a matter of personality, and in this regard we are all created with uniqueness. 

The problem with being last minute is that things that are important can get squeezed into a shorter space of time or squeezed out entirely.  Recently, Joy and I agreed that, when we meet for Morning Prayer on Mondays and Tuesdays, we would say Morning Prayer first and then chat and catch up and do diary dates. We had got into the habit of chatting first and then saying prayers, which meant that the time available for prayer was being squeezed, and sometimes we would have to rush in order to fit it in before the next meeting we had to be at.   The curious thing is that we are now spending more time on our prayer together and still have enough time to talk about everything else. 

Many of us lead busy lives and it is easy for God and our prayer life to be squeezed out and left to the last minute - like just before bed time, when we are tired from the day and less likely to concentrate. But luckily there are lots of things out there to help busy people in their prayer life.  Whilst there is no real substitute for finding enough time for prayer and working on our relationship with God, there are many mobile device apps, like Daily Prayer and Time to Pray, that can help, or prayers from the Northumbria Community which can be found online. There are also many small pocket-sized books of prayers that we can carry around with us. 

Whether we plan our time effectively or are rather more last minute, the important thing is that we are making the effort to deepen our relationship with God. 

Every blessing

Tim