The famous writer Someone compiled the following bits of wise advice called, “Everything Need to Know, I Learned from Noah's Ark:”
Don't miss the boat.
Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Get started now. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Build your future on high ground.
For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Remember, amateurs built the Ark; professionals built the Titanic.
No matter the storm, with God there's always a rainbow waiting.
Number 3 caught my attention. Noah did not wait until it started raining to get ready for the flood. That would have been too late.
The advice “Get started now,” particularly got my attention the day I wrote this because I was three hours late getting this column started. It’s not that I didn’t want to do it. It’s not that I didn’t think it was important. I just had a very tough time getting started.
So, I straightened my desk. I checked my email (twice). I took a break and went for a walk. I made phone calls, read a while, and downed two glasses of Diet Mountain Dew. I got wired on caffeine, but I didn’t get much writing done. Not until I finally got started.
Do you ever have trouble starting on something you know you should do? Ever have good intentions, but keep putting it off. Do we do that because we think that we can get started tomorrow?
Tomorrow, however, is not ours. “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth,” says the wise King Solomon (Proverbs 27:1). Don’t boast about it because you don’t own it. You can’t plan to use it because it isn’t yours.
Tomorrow isn’t yours; today is. As Longfellow said, "Today is the block with which we build." Use this day to get started on the great things you have been intending to do. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
Start today. It’s not raining yet, but it is looking a little cloudy!