Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan Thomas

I have had a lot that needs laying at the Lord's feet, I feel as though stuff has been accumulating and I have been procrastinating. Procrastinating on prayer is like procrastinating on homework generally, the more you procrastinate the more poorly you perform, whether it is studying for a test or writing a research paper. Performance in prayer isn't the same as performance on homework of course, maybe quality or health; those words are a little more suited to the relational activity that prayer is.

It is even easier to procrastinate on prayer than it is on homework because there are no deadlines involved, or so it seems. But someone (a saint I think) once said, ''Let your praying become doing, and your doing praying.'' The idea is that prayer should become a lifestyle; what you pray should be how you live, and your actions should reflect your prayers, you never want to forget or let go the connection you have with God when you pray. That is life in Christ. So if this exhortation is taken seriously, there is a deadline for prayer, it is every moment of life.

So, last night I prayed for three hours straight. It seemed like once I started there was no good place to stop. Praying about one relationship in my life led to another, prayer for one friend's circumstances reminded me of another. If the statement above holds and my doing should be as involved and exhaustive as my praying, then I have a lot to do. Maybe that is another reason I procrastinate; because prayer reminds me of what I should be doing. If I put off prayer, I am most likely also putting off certain other things I should be doing. Conversely, if I am procrastinating on doing, I will want to procrastinate on praying.

Everyone has heard the phrase ''why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?'' Yet, most of the time we do not heed it. My question is, what am I not doing, or better, how am I not doing? When I put off prayer, which is my link to life ''in Christ'' I must be missing out on the actual life in Christ! That thought scares me. It's the fear, frustration, and even rage at the realization that I am wasting my life by not really living that reminds me of Dylan Thomas. Death is imminent, the present quickly becomes past - the every moment ''deadlines'' of life fly by!

Thankfully, it also reminds me of Philippians. Paul is, I think as desperate as Thomas, but he is not without hope: ''So then...work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.'' God is at work, therein lies the hope.

Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!