Take action: Today, I will…

Today’s your day. It’s the day the procrastination ends. It’s a new beginning. At least for a day. The Bible calls us to be doers, and it says that faith without works is dead. In Luke, Jesus reminds us to ask, seek and knock. These are action verbs. Christianity is not passive, spectator sport; it is a mission to be on the move.

Get a piece of paper and write down what you will do today. No, not cut the grass or have a second cup of coffee. The tough stuff. The things you’ve put off for months and the things you believe you can’t do. Here’s a list to jog your memory and your thinking. Start writing — you need only 3-4 items.

Complete this sentence: Today, I will…

Do something outside of my comfort zone. How about two things?
Get through what I’ve been going through.
Try something different. (Food, type of coffee, another way to work, sit on the other side of the church).
Make a list of everything — everything — I am grateful for.
Help someone just because I can.
Call someone I should have called yesterday or last month.
Spend some quality time with God.
Let God talk more than I talk in prayer.
Get 1 percent better at something today. In other words, learn something that makes you better.
Get out of your comfort zone. Yes, again.
Listen to someone who needs to talk. (My hunch is you already know this person.)
Believe something good about someone who hasn’t given me anything good to believe.
Smile and speak to everyone — everyone — I encounter.
Replace every negative thought with a positive quote, saying or scripture.
Read something: A chapter in the Bible, an article pertinent to me, pick up a new book to start.
Talk to someone I admire and can learn from — even if only for five minutes.
Pay it forward. I will do something for someone who can’t pay me back.
Make a “Today I will…” list for tomorrow that has five things.

What’s on your list? Don’t look back, don’t plan it out. Just do it. Most of the things on your list won’t take long, but they will bless you and others around you. You gotta have the want to.

Procrastination is too high a price to pay for fear of failure. To conquer fear, you have to feel the fear and take action anyway. Forget motivation. Just do it. Act your way into feeling, not wait for positive emotions to carry you forward.
~John Maxwell

Today is the day. What will you do? Complete the sentence: Today, I will. Then, complete the list.