“Individuals who do well in life tend to be accountable to time.”

A thought by John Townsend from his book, People Fuel (p. 65). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

And we all have the same amount of time each day, don’t we?

John continues the thought, “They are aware of it and of how little we have in life, so they order their days so as to make the most of them. ‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom’ (Ps. 90:12).

“One of the most important uses of this prioritizing is to utilize time as the oven of growth. In this oven, various aspects of grace and truth are heated up, mixed, and melded. The outcome is a dish that is superior to the original, uncooked ingredients.

“Growth and change—real and substantive change—tends to take longer than we anticipate. We are an impatient species, and we much prefer a microwave oven approach. But if we allow God’s process to work, growth happens in its correct season.”

John goes on, “You will also find that at different seasons in your growth, you will require more of one ingredient than another. Suppose you want to go to the next level in your career and make the move you have been needing to make—let’s say, to start your own small business. The first thing you will probably do is dive into the information and do tons of research, scouring books, journals, and websites. At this point, truth is the focus, because you don’t even know what you don’t know. It’s just due diligence. But at the juncture where you now know what you don’t know, you could also notice that you need support around you: people to encourage you, keep you motivated, and keep you on track. That will involve adding grace in the form of the right relationships to help you continue along the path.

“Success is built around experiencing the right amounts and the right kinds of grace and truth over the right amount of time. Some combination of these three is almost always the answer to solving a problem or creating an opportunity. And it is our responsibility to figure that part out, for our own challenges, goals, and dreams.

Yes, dealing with time is such an important tool in our growth and success, isn’t it?

Yes, Yes!