I was with the family last week on a vacation I didn’t know I needed. But more than once as I stared out over the beach at the ocean I felt like I never needed to leave – I could just sit there forever. Hmm, maybe I was tired. God’s timing is always perfect.

A few days in I started praying about some of the things God has invited me into. We had a familiar conversation:

• “God, this is too big!” – “You don’t like big?” – “I love big” – “OK, so what’s the problem?”

• “It’s moving too fast!” – “You don’t like fast?” – “I love fast” – “OK, so what’s the problem?”

• “It’s just so much work!” – “You don’t like working?” – “I love working” – “OK, so what’s the problem?”

• “It’s just so weighty!” – “You don’t like weighty?” – “I love weighty” – “OK, so what’s the problem?”

And so on. We’ve done this before. He’s designed my life to be exactly what I love, and yet sometimes I don’t love it. Eventually we get it down to: I don’t think things are moving fast enough, and I don’t have enough time to get them going faster. I asked him about this and he showed me something about my life that I’d never noticed before.

When I worked for Safeway in the 90’s, I tried pretty hard to convince senior management in California that we could deliver meal kits to people much more efficiently than operating stores. I remember one guy said it was a good idea, but it was 25 years ahead of its time. Turns out he was about right.

Then God showed me three other ideas I’d poured years into in the 80’s and 90’s and how long it took for them to become popular. They were all in the 25 year range. (Except one, where I got the timing right and it took off so that the whole grocery industry was using the idea within a few years.)

Interesting. I sometimes say I’ve failed at more things than most people get to try. When I look at why things have failed, the overarching theme is that I’m swinging too early. If the ball’s not here yet, it doesn’t matter how hard I swing. I need to wait for it.

Ironic. I historically fail because I’m going too fast, yet in any given moment my main concern is trying to go faster.

Illuminating. I’ve always known it’s not about time, but timing. This journey through my past, however, really made it obvious that if I don’t stay in step with the Spirit, I could spend years of my life doing things that won’t bear any fruit.