Time

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book titled Outliers examining the factors that contribute to high success levels. What makes those top achievers top achievers? One of the most notable components in the book was the "10,000-hour rule." Gladwell claimed that the way to achieve excellence in anything was to practice whatever it is for a minimum of 10,000 hours.

Okay, maybe. I haven't seen the studies and, frankly, I wouldn't know how to determine exactly how much time I've spent at anything to see if I've attained sufficient time. Besides, it's too simplistic in my view. I mean, spend 10,000 hours playing the trombone without actually having a proper mouthpiece or knowing how to read music or ever playing with someone else, and I'd question the level of expertise even after all those hours. That is, I think it takes more than just time. Natural ability, talent, drive, skills, training, education, heart ... lots of other things.

I think it is true, however, that you can get a sense of what you think is important partly by how much time you spend doing it. I suppose this is more along the lines of "Which dog do you feed?" You know, that old Cherokee story of a grandfather teaching his grandson about hate. He describes the battle within as two dogs -- a good one and a bad one. "Which one will win?" the grandson asks. "The one you feed." In the same way, you will obviously be more highly influenced by the things in which you spend more time than the things you don't.

It's interesting that Paul says something about this on more than one occasion. In Ephesians and in Colossians he tells his readers to redeem the time or make the best use of time (depending on which translation you read) (Eph 5:16; Col 4:5). In the Ephesians passage he tells why: "because the days are evil." Clearly, given the evil nature of days (Paul's and ours), we ought to make proper use of our time to obtain the best result. Paul calls it wise (Eph 5:15; Col 4:5).

What about us? How are we doing? Comparing our time in prayer and our time speaking to friends, which one dominates? Comparing our time spent in the Word and our time in front of television or smartphone screens, which one is larger? Comparing the time we spend in God's work and the time we spend on our pleasures, which one wins? And what does that say about us? If you look at your time spent, ranking from the most to the least, what would you conclude about your priorities and concerns? Do those priorities and concerns align with what you think they should? If practice makes perfect -- if spending time at something is moving you toward perfecting your skills at it -- what are you working to perfect by spending the most time at it? I'm asking myself these hard questions. You might want to consider it as well.