I’m a night owl, there is no doubt about it. My mind just seems to wake up after about 11 PM. I feel more creative, I feel more productive, everything is quiet, no chance of interupption, and I feel like I have all the time in the world. I once stayed up all night just to paint my kitchen. I often stay up late to write this blog (that might be why some of them don’t make much sense). The truth is, my late nights are not near as productive or creative as they feel. I’m much better on 8 hours of sleep at 9 AM. I start off at night focused and have good intentions, but I get pulled in so many different directions – I feel like I have all the time in the world, so I try to do it all. But inevitably during my late night sessions, a time comes when I look at the clock and realize how little time I have left myself for sleep. I realize that I have more things to do tomorrow that will be done much better if I get some rest. I realize that there are so many more important things I could have been putting my time and energy towards, but instead I have squandered it on the night – and now nothing is done. Everything is undone. This is my “Oh no!” moment – when all the good feelings of late night disappear, when I realize that like it or not, the morning is coming soon. I spent the night following my feelings with no accountability. I didn’t think or listen to reason or common sense. Now all of the different feelings change into one feeling – the I-Don’t-Feel-Like-It feeling.
I drink coffee in the morning because I don’t feel like waking up and being productive. Sometimes, in order to fight the urge to stay up late I will take a Tylenol PM because I don’t feel like going to sleep. I have weeds in my flower beds because I don’t feel like pulling them out. My “check engine” light has been on for months, but I don’t feel like taking my car in. There are people I need to forgive me, but I don’t feel like asking for forgiveness. There are people I need to forgive, but I don’t feel like talking to them. There are friends I have not seen or spoken to in years, because I can never find a convenient time when I feel like making a phone call or writing a letter. I passed a guy on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere who had a flat tire. I’m not sure if he even had a spare. I didn’t feel like stopping to find out.
The I-Don’t-Feel-Like-It factor rules so much of our lives, and inevitably we find ourselves in this state much like staying up late. We think we’ll get around to “it.” We think eventually we will feel like it. We think we have more time than we really do. And so we leave so many important things undone… and unsaid.
On the night before Jesus was crucified he went into a garden to spend some time in prayer. He knew he had something pretty important to do the next day and it was going to be a challenge – so he sought guidance. This was his prayer: “Father, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me.” Translation: “I don’t feel like it.” Jesus is saying that he does not feel like sacrificing himself, that he does not feel like receiving the punishment of others, that he does not feel like being nailed to a cross like some kind of criminal. Jesus does not feel like saving the world. But that is not the end of the prayer. he goes on: “yet, not my will, but your’s be done.” Translation: “I don’t feel like it, but I’ll do it anyway.”
What if Jesus followed his feelings? What if Jesus gave in to the I-Don’t-Feel-Like-It Factor? What if because Jesus did not feel like dying, he didn’t? What would that mean for all of us? For all of history? For all of eternity?
What if you give in to the I-Don’t-Feel-Like-It factor? What would that mean for all of us? For all of history? For all of eternity?
Jesus knew one simple truth: the morning is coming soon. Time is going to run out. You cannot wait to do what is needed until you feel like it. Most of the time, the things we feel least like doing are perhaps the most important thing we could do. Maybe now is a good time to do it.
If you need a little inspiration to put this message into action, I wrote a song on this theme called “Morning’s Coming Soon.” You can listen to it and download it HERE.
david herndon 