day 736: Before We Know It

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?..."

If there is one place where time moves quickly, it is in business. Days turn to weeks, months and a year before we know it. The planning that we are doing for the following quarter is already in play before the planning is even done. The steady beating drum that is the cadence of setting, meeting, and measuring results can move by so quickly that it can feel like we are tumbling head first out of control. What comes with experience is the ability to manage how time passes. What? Time can’t be slowed or sped up. That is true, but how a business or a person addresses time can manage how time passes. Steve Young, the Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback, once said that on his first snap that he took in the NFL that the linebackers and defensive line came at him so fast that all he could do was throw the ball away as fast he could. Some fifteen years later on his last snap, when the players were bigger and faster than all those earlier years but in that game, he felt that he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted to do with the ball and that the defense were now coming in slow motion. Nothing has changed except for his perspective, maturity and wisdom from his ability to see the game unfold in front of him. Business is the same way. As we learn the patterns of the business, the industry and competitors, then we can begin to manage how fast it seems time passes. If it feels like things are moving too fast or feel out of control, then it’s time to be sure that those who have the best experience and perspective are called in to help.

A great part of our belief is that God is always doing something new in us and for us and it’s always coming, whether we can see it or not. Sometimes it will feel fast, other times it can feel slow, but like the art of slow-cooking, God is always working in and on us. There is no waiting. There is only allowing for Him to work. Are we looking for something new and expecting it to come soon? It may well be that we don’t have enough perspective to be able to see how time and change is unfolding. It took Steve Young many years to gain enough experience and knowledge to slow down the game. In those years, he surely practiced, watched films, studied other teams, took in coaching, etc. The same can be said for us. We need to study God’s Word. We need to talk and listen to God in prayer. We need to learn from others in fellowship. The closer we move towards God the more we can answer the question, “Do you not see it?”…with, “Yes, I can see it”.

Reference: Isaiah 43:19 (New Living Testament)