Growing up we don’t understand the education it will take, or the grinding and working hard part that allows adults to become lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, or teachers. Your first job after you graduate from HS or college won’t be your best job. Who wants to peak at 15, 18 or 23 years old? Your first job is to learn to have a job. You have to learn to appreciate the hustling and the working hard part. You have to pay your dues.
The “10,000 hour rule” – Malcolm Gladwell’s (“Outliners”) states you need 10,000 hours to become a phenom. To be freakishly awesome, to be such a standout among your peers, that sometimes your first name or initials are enough to tell people whom you are; Peyton, Tiger, MJ, Magic, LeBron, Oprah… 10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything. I’m sure if you were to interview any one of these people, they would say that 10,000 hours practicing was just the beginning, and to stay on top the work you have to put in never ends.
Life moves very fast, but God moves us at the right pace. Why do we try to rush the guy who invented time? The difference is that the devil tries to rush us and get us to not slow down saying, “You don’t need to seek God, you got this on your own.” The devil strives to take us off our game and make us impatient. In the Bible, think of some of these stories: Noah – took 100 years to build the Ark, Moses – 40 years running away after he killed the Egyptians and then another 40 years in the wilderness, David – 15 years to become King of Israel after he killed Goliath, Jesus – 33 years on earth before he died on the cross, fulfilling His purpose.
What do they all have in common? It just didn’t happen overnight. It took many years of preparation to complete God’s plan for their lives. Along the way they had to have patience and endurance in not giving up. All their stories showed us that they were truly “phenoms” for God!
Life moves very fast, but God moves us at the right pace.
Confession for today: “Today, Lord, I pray that You help me to be patient in all that I do, so I can learn, grow and prepare for everything You have for me, and that I will never lack anything along the way.”
Living for today,
Mr. Tom
