The Delay Button

Nearly every evening my husband or I prepare the coffee maker for my husband's early morning exodus for work. Our coffee maker is over five years old, yet still does a great job of making coffee. There is one problem though, the delay start button is not securely attached. It will pop off when you scoot the coffee maker over or totter to the floor when you hit this button.

As I picked up the "delay start" button off the counter top this evening, I wondered if there was a time when delay is a good thing. For our coffee maker and dishwasher it's an added convenience we regularly use. For most of us we delay taking action when it's needed: asking for forgiveness for a wrong, going on a diet and exercise plan or giving up a bad habit. Delay is so much easier than confrontation. Then the delay can lead us to worry and wasted time. "You may delay, but time will not," said Benjamin Franklin. The time we fritter away by procrastination is gone forever.

When you know you should do something and you don't, it's a sin. So says God's Word (James 4:17) Resolve to not hit that "delay start" button.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

As a brand-new mom I realized I would be faced with the dilemma of sleep deprivation. I'm one of those individuals who requires 8 hours of sleep to function properly. I've always envied those individuals who could sleep 5 or 6 hours and yet appear refreshed when they awoke. After even one or two late nights/early mornings my brain begins to fizzle and feel sluggish. Apparently it's all in my genes. Researchers recently learned that people who feel more fatigued and sleepy after a poor night sleep all tested positive for a common gene variant. (University of Maryland Medical Center, “Insomnia, Risk Factors”)

In spite of my apprehension over being able to function on less sleep and care for my child, my body managed to adapt. You see I'm sleeping less and accomplishing less, but it's worthwhile as there's a child being cared for. Sleep is not the priority, raising a daughter is.