Develop skills you may need in the future

God never does anything without intention. Even making us wait has a purpose.

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9)

How do you get to be an expert? What makes someone an authority on a given subject matter? It’s not always a degree or a doctorate, because many people who are considered experts didn’t go to college.

I believe it was the researcher Malcolm Gladwell who said that it requires 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery over any area of study. 10,000 hours! Some folks say it’s ten years, or maybe that’s from the same book. I don’t know. I just know that’s a lot of time to invest in learning how to do something well.

But I don’t doubt it. Because if you want to be an expert at anything, you have to practice it. You can’t just talk about doing it. You have to DO it.

And, believe it or not, while you’re waiting is a great time to work on developing the skills you might need later in life. You may not even know what you need to learn at this point. While you wait, do something that you think is fun. Invest your time in a passion you’ve always had. You never know. You might discover a new path for your life that you didn’t even know was there.

If nothing else, by the time God is ready to do what you’re waiting on Him for, you might have a whole new skill set. And, with God’s sense of humor, He’ll find a way to use it wherever He’s taking you.

Don’t waste the time He’s giving you today. Open your eyes. Listen for His voice. Practice living the way He has shown you how to live.

God never does anything without intention. Even making us wait has a purpose. It could be to teach us patience. It could be to demonstrate His faithfulness. It could be to get other people ready. But it could also be so that you can learn something important you’ll need for the future.

Questions for Reflection

• What is a skill you learned as a child that you thought would be useless but ended up needing as part of your adult life?

• If you could do anything with your life, with no concern for finances or social commentary, what would it be?

• What is stopping you from pursuing a passion in your life right now?

Weekly Memory Verse