Right from the start, Wayne Gretzky was a hockey genius. He had a rink in his backyard. He also had an overflow of natural talent.

But he also had supportive, smart parents. There’s a story about something Wayne’s father Walter did which gave his son an added advantage. 

While watching some games, Walter took a piece of paper with the outline of a hockey rink, complete with goal lines, blue lines, and circles. While watching the game, he traced the movement of the puck with a pencil on his piece of paper.

At the end of the games, he saw a trend. The darkest areas were where the puck tended to be the most. If Wayne spent more time in those dark areas, he would get the puck more often and be given an advantage. This would be especially helpful since Wayne was physically smaller than many of the other players.

Where are life’s dark areas? Here’s another way to say it. Where should we spend most of our energy for the greatest advantage? 

Here are some ideas from Scripture: Activities that help us glorify God, that facilitate loving servanthood, that strengthen our families, that build up the church, that advance justice, and that promote holiness.

Turns out the ‘dark areas’ are areas of light. Time spent in those places is always time well spent.

I love Psalm 90:12. I ponder it often: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Our time on earth is short. Let’s use those days wisely. Do we fritter away our time and energy on things that don’t matter? Or do we organize our priorities around the high impact areas that God has set before us?

Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

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Notes:

—The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on February 12, 2024.

—Bible quotes are from the NIV.