Time and Growth: Time as an Ally in Formation
A reminder to myself, and hopefully to someone else reading.
A reminder to myself, and hopefully to someone else reading.
A Sudden Awareness
Certain realisations can jolt you up and hold your attention, especially when it comes to time and growth. The awareness of how time ought to be looked at has been one of them. This isn’t a new idea. I was being brought back to something I had always known, but had not been paying attention to.
There are moments when understanding does not come as a step, but as a shift, when something familiar settles with new weight. This was one of those moments.
Time Is Not the Problem
Everything on earth takes time.
This is not just observation; it is structure. Time is built into how things unfold. Scripture speaks of this plainly: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Life is not random movement; it is ordered in seasons.
But it is easy to treat time as if it were the problem, as if things would be better if they happened faster, or if outcomes could be reached without passing through process.
The truth is simpler, and harder to accept:
Time is not the obstacle.
It is the space within which growth is allowed to happen.
Growth Does Not Happen Automatically
Time, by itself, does not produce growth. It only makes room for it.
Growth happens through engagement, through a sustained alignment with what is true. It requires attention, practice, and a willingness to stay with something long enough for it to take root.
It is possible to spend years around truth and remain unchanged. Scripture makes this distinction clear: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). Hearing places you near something; doing allows it to work within you.
Time moves regardless. It does not pause because we are ready, and it does not accelerate because we are impatient. It continues its course, but not everyone is carried through it in the same way.
There are moments where one person’s obedience becomes another person’s turning point, where one person’s entry marks another’s exit. Yet within that shared flow, each of us is still given our own time for formation. Time does not improve what it holds; it only provides the space in which growth may occur.
Something must be happening within that movement for growth to take place.
Why We Fret
Impatience often feels justified.
When effort has been invested and results are not yet visible, the natural response is to question the process — or to try to speed it up. That tension shows up as restlessness, frustration, sometimes even quiet anxiety.
Scripture speaks directly to this tendency: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself…” (Psalm 37:7). Fretting is not just an emotion; it is a posture, a resistance to waiting.
At its root, fretting assumes that something is wrong because something is not yet visible.
But not everything that is working is immediately seen.
Growth often happens out of sight, beneath the surface, in ways that cannot be rushed without being damaged. The instruction not to fret is not a call to passivity; it is a call to trust the process enough to remain steady within it.
Learning to Wait Well
Waiting is often misunderstood.
It is treated as inactivity, or as something to endure until something else begins. But waiting, in the way Scripture presents it, is not empty time. It is engaged time.
“In due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). The emphasis is not only on the season, but on not giving up — on remaining consistent in what is right, even when results are not yet visible.
Waiting well means staying aligned: continuing to do what is right; continuing to learn; continuing to apply.
It is not dramatic. It is steady, often quiet, but deliberate.
Formation Takes Time
We often think of results, but overlook formation.
Results can appear suddenly. Formation does not. It happens gradually, through repetition, through use, through staying with something long enough for it to become part of you.
Scripture captures this quietly: “…by reason of use have their senses exercised…” (Hebrews 5:14). Maturity is not simply knowing more; it is becoming more discerning through consistent engagement.
That kind of growth cannot be rushed. It requires time, not just passing time, but time used well.
Purpose Shapes Process
Not all growth follows the same timeline.
Purpose determines process, and process determines the time required for formation.
The gestation period of a fly is not the same as that of a cat. Neither is that of a rabbit the same as an elephant. Even among trees, what looks similar on the surface may differ greatly in the time required to mature, and that difference often determines their use and their value.
This is not disorder. It is design.
What something is meant to become determines how long it must be formed.
This is where comparison becomes misleading. Scripture puts it plainly: “they measuring themselves by themselves… are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).
When we compare timelines, we ignore purpose.
And when purpose is ignored, time begins to feel unfair.
That frustration often turns into fretting, not because something is wrong, but because we are measuring ourselves against a process that was never meant to be ours.
Each life unfolds within time, but not in the same way.
And each process carries its own requirements.
The Real Risk
The real risk is not that things take time.
The real risk is: not giving things enough time, or being present in time without being engaged within it.
This is where distortion happens: effort without depth; outcomes without stability; beginnings that cannot be sustained.
Time exposes these things. It does not create them.
A Change in Posture
This reflection did not change the pace of life. It changed how I relate to it.
Time is no longer something to push against, or to feel pressured by. It is something to work with.
Not everything needs to happen now.
Not everything can be rushed.
And not everything that is slow is failing.
There is a kind of quiet strength in allowing processes to run their course, in doing what is required, and allowing time to do what only time can do.
An Ally in Formation
Time does not oppose growth. It makes space for it.
And when that space is used well, with attention, discipline, and steady engagement with what is true, time becomes what it was always meant to be: an ally in formation, not because it hastens growth, but because it makes room for it.
If this has brought clarity, kindly share it with someone who may need it. God bless you!