One crazy truth I’ve learn in the Santa Barbara beach volleyball culture: most people want to play with those who are more skilled.  It makes sense, really, when you think about it. 

In TMP we often quote motivational speaker Jim Rohn who said, “’You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”   On the sand, the higher average skill of opponents and partners bumps your personal performance. The same is true in the boardroom, the gym, and in friendship.  Surrounding yourself with more refined maturity and skill is a sure path to personal progress.  

However, this formula for success can also pose a dilemma.  If you always engage with someone better, it can be frustrating to play with someone who, in your eyes, does not measure up.   They don’t have your same level of maturity.  Inevitably this frustration can blind us to opportunities of our own personal growth…

In TMP Session 3, we focus on Breakthrough.  We give 4 strategies to mastering Time, Change, Growth, and the 4 general Calls of God.  The content here can catapult any willingly invested soul but takes a lifetime to master.  Each strategy is a process of maturity – a journey as opposed to a destination.  Have you revisited the Session 3 binder recently?  What’s your current level of maturity in these life strategies?   

In the process of Time, the Father has given us just the right amount. The challenge becomes time leadership vs. time management.  How will we spend our perfectly allotted Time?  Maturity looks like a pattern of Focus/Service/Sabbath in which we are hypersensitive to the person the Father fashioned in us, free with people He has given us to serve, and tenacious to indulge in His rest.  How would you rate your Time Leadership expertise?

In the process of Change, God has designed stages of excitement, acceleration, boredom, and reinvention in such a way that life is never stagnant.  Maturity of this lifecycle converts challenges to freedom – trials that become our joy.  The Father is calling us to embrace circumstances that cannot be changed but can be used to demonstrate that we are looking more like Him, that we are in fact His maturing kids.  What’s a recent doldrums experience that the Father used to propel you into the cocoon of transformation?

In the process of Growth, God is strategic to reveal to us just what is needed for the next step.  He does not call to consciousness every defect at once.  Rather, He expectantly gives us glimpses of potential holiness. He is not discouraged, disappointed, or surprised by our struggle or lack of success.  He does not see what’s wrong with us.  He sees what’s missing.  Like an incredible father or father figure some might have experienced, He looks for small incremental successes and celebrates us.  In which area has the Father’s patient kindness yield the most transformation in your life?

In the process of the Father’s Calls, He has created a process of spiritual maturity.  At first to recognize our need for a savior.  Next to seek His righteousness and to walk in our Jesus-earned capacity for holiness.  Then to recognize our own God-given responsibilities and working to master our care and investment in each.  Finally, we awaken to God’s call in us for a specific potential, passion, and purpose.  Our investment to walk in the Father’s tailored creation becomes our uniquely branded Kingdom service that somehow fits perfectly within the whole measure of the Body of Christ.  What stage(s) are you at right now?

The bottom line: we are all on a journey of maturity, each at various stages in multiple arenas.  We want to excel.  We want to be around those who can help us mature faster.  We want to play or be engaged with those who have already accomplished the success/significance we long to see.  And yet, each of us also needs to be the mentor at times.  We need to play the role of the encourager emulating the person the Father plays in our own lives – ever doting, never giving up on us, forever committed to our upgrade!  For the ultimate maturity in this lifelong process is to be like Him…  to embody His transformational love… to become the giver… to sacrifice for someone else’s gain.  Don’t miss the opportunity to practice being like the Father.  This opportunity to lean into grace could be the next level of maturity He’s positioning you for.

See you on the volleyball court of life!

In your corner,

Rob Dayton


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