The Short-Term View – See.  Perceive.  Act.   

Please pray, former procrastinators! Ledger is almost five years old. He almost drowned and remains in critical condition. The Lord has worked many miracles already. Hallelujah! Please pray for the miracle of total restoration of Ledger’s mind and body. Especially pray for his basal ganglia, occipital lobe, and thalamus. Pray for his parents and family. Thank you so much!

Are you guilty of going for immediate gratification, former procrastinators?  I am.  Emotions want immediate gratification which drives the short-term view.  Taking the short-term view keeps us from taking appropriate action.  Emotions are important, but they generally resist diligence.

We want relief from a task, so we opt for delay now instead of for the work that will bring greater relief later.  (Job done.) This can be related to faulty assumptions because we focus on perceived difficulties or unpleasantness.  “It’s too much work.  I just won’t do it.”  We get immediate relief. (No work now.)  But later – greater aggravation and higher cost.

Another twist on short-term thinking says, “If I can’t have two hours at one time to do this, then I don’t want to do it at all.”  That’s pouty.  It’s sort of “cutting off your nose to spite your own face” as my mom used to say.  We could have joy, but since it doesn’t come packaged exactly like we want it, we refuse any at all. When we are genuinely grateful for the gift God gives, we experience far more joy than when we custom order out of our own shortsightedness.  He knows us and our situation thoroughly.  He’s the giver of all good gifts. Gladly seize the 15 minutes to practice or read.

The “domino effect” can shape a short-term view and cause delay. We get stuck thinking one event will start others. “I don’t want to replace that chair because then the sofa will need replacing and the table.” Decorators explain how to transform a room over time, not in one expensive swoop.  Learn French cooking one sauce at a time.  Decluttering is seldom done as a whole house project.   Get started and accept progress gratefully.

A short-term view says, “I don’t want to fight it.”  That might be a way of saying, “I don’t want to be inconvenienced.”  Sometimes we have to give up something to gain a benefit.  Set the alarm 20 minutes earlier to have quiet time with the Lord or to write.  Expend the effort to set up a babysitting schedule.  Help the family learn a new routine.  Short-term, these look difficult and annoying; long-term, they pay off big.

Teaching children manners, gardening, learning a new skill, weight loss – all take time. Some fruit is long in coming. But the rewards are sweet and long lasting.  If you’re unwilling to “fight it,” it’s likely you’ll fight something else longer.  Take 6 weeks to teach children to place their shoes by the door at night – or continue searching for shoes every morning for years.

Emotions’ demands for immediate gratification cause us to veer off course.  The short-term view hurts us in the long run; look down the road and assess wisely. Self-control pays off.  See – recognize – emotions before they control us.  Perceive their tricky ways and what will really be beneficial.  Act in spite of how we feel.

Where do you need to take a long-term view right now?