The Beauty of Late Bloomers

It’s easy to feel behind in life. But what if late bloomers have the greatest advantage? In this 15-minute episode, father-son duo Rick and Joël Malm talk about the power of late bloomers.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

00:00:05:21 – 00:00:09:23
Hey, welcome to the podcast. I’m Joel here with dad, as always.

00:00:09:26 – 00:00:14:24
And I’m Rick. And, we’re glad you’re here with us today. Yeah. You wanna talk about what’s up?

00:00:14:25 – 00:00:25:23
Hey, I just got back from a conference, and, I met a couple of our. Of our listeners. Oh, really? And they weren’t the ones I thought were our listeners. So I think we’re up to, like, maybe like, 8 or 9 listeners at this point.

00:00:25:25 – 00:00:30:15
If those original two have still listening. no, it’s no.

00:00:30:15 – 00:00:45:20
Just kidding. Actually, I’m, I’m I’m amazed the numbers we see where we actually keep ticking up on the numbers of people watching. We’re still trying to build that YouTube presence. it’s a hard nut to crack. So if you’re. Maybe we’re just not made for TV. are we got a face for radio?

00:00:45:21 – 00:00:48:12
We do have a face for radio, that’s for sure.

00:00:48:14 – 00:00:58:27
So if you’re if you’re interested in watching it on YouTube, it is available on YouTube. Just go to youtube.com. Slash do well, mom. And, but it seems like more people are in the audio. So anyway, I’ll.

00:00:58:27 – 00:01:02:03
Leave it on YouTube. Sometimes you just play it while you’re doing something else.

00:01:02:04 – 00:01:04:13
Yeah, but at least that would show numbers, right?

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So we need the numbers.

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We need numbers, I need numbers.

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Numbers matter. Jesus counted 100 sheep. So how do you know there’s a sheep counting?

00:01:11:27 – 00:01:36:12
Right on. All right, so here’s what I’ve got for today. you know, when the first time I realized this about myself, it was when I was just starting college, when most of my friends were graduating. and, like, I feel like I’ve always kind of been behind the curve. My, you know, my high school wanted me to go to college, but I just didn’t write for it.

00:01:36:13 – 00:01:53:02
Took me about three years before I finally got in college, 3 or 4 years, which now looking back at like 3 or 4 years, whatever. But when you’re young, it feels like you’re behind or something. my best friend where’s all three of his kids are in college. I’ve got a kid in fourth grade. so he had.

00:01:53:03 – 00:02:14:07
He got married way before my kids waited for me. And I’ll basically all of my friends did that, and I was. I’ve kind of noticed throughout my life that I guess I’m a what you would call a late bloomer. I do things behind the curve of what most people do, and they are kind of, you know, if I’m comparing my life to them, which is unwise as possible, says they compare them.

00:02:14:08 – 00:02:44:19
Or is it James? This is when they compare themselves to themselves. Yes. Paul. Right. so, you know, if I’m comparing my life, I look at my life and I go, I’m behind. I’m I’ve always been kind of late to come do the things everybody else does, and I don’t know why that is. I don’t know if that’s my resistance, disagreeable personality, but I want to talk about that idea of late bloomers, because, I’m the older I get, first of all, the older I get, the less I’m worried about time, schedules and what should have been at a certain time.

00:02:44:26 – 00:03:05:15
And the more I’m worried about, like, I want to make sure I’m fulfilling my destiny. but I think it’s, it’s a challenge because a lot of times we look around and there’s this there’s this pattern for what life should be. And I think there’s actually some profound truth in the need for these patterns. Right. The reason the patterns have been set up, you know, you find a you find a spouse, you get a career, you, you know, have kids.

00:03:05:15 – 00:03:21:27
This order we’ve kind of thrown all that out the door. But there’s also this idea of we all have a unique calling in our life. So I want to talk about this idea of late bloomers. What do you you know, how do you know if you’re a late bloomer? I think everybody kind of ready knows they are. And and maybe maybe it’s a conversation on comparison.

00:03:21:27 – 00:03:22:06
I don’t.

00:03:22:06 – 00:03:37:11
Know. Yeah. I think, well, I don’t know. You just remind me of a Cat Stevens song. You know? Was that the father and son of things? Find a girl, settle down. If you want, you can marry. Look at me. I am old, but I’m happy. That’s my generation. Okay.

00:03:37:14 – 00:03:38:21
Cat Stevens, all right.

00:03:38:21 – 00:03:43:21
Oh, yeah. He’s Rufus. That’s something I know. Mufasa is the lion. He’s I don’t know, I can’t remember his name.

00:03:43:21 – 00:03:44:28
Oh, he changed his name.

00:03:45:01 – 00:04:05:08
Mohammed. Yeah. Some of me, anyway, it’s not Mufasa. That’s the lion. But anyhow, you know, I, I remember that conversation. I remember a conversation we had when you were talking about that, man. I just feel like I’m falling behind, and and I, I know early on I didn’t remember when you were starting college or before, but I remember telling you, you know, life is not a race.

00:04:05:08 – 00:04:22:18
And it’s not like, see who can get to the end and die first. You know, it’s, it’s not a race. And, there are some there are certain patterns like that that do follow, but, I remember I used to be an early adopter, you know, and like, when something would come out, I was really excited about it.

00:04:22:18 – 00:04:40:12
And I would jump in on it. And I got burned a few times and I thought, you know what? I’m going to wait until the second or third rendition of this thing, you know, and to kind of see how it goes. And like, in a military, situation, it’s, it’s the point guy who the one who busts through the door first to get shot.

00:04:40:19 – 00:04:41:03
Yeah.

00:04:41:03 – 00:04:47:26
So there’s there’s something to be said for not being the lead dog, you know, all the time now, the lead dogs view, you know.

00:04:48:00 – 00:04:52:28
Yeah. I’ve always heard it. The first guy through the wall is the bloodiest because he took all the blows getting through the wall.

00:04:52:28 – 00:05:08:24
But yeah yeah, yeah. And I mean there’s the other side of that. You know if you’re not the lead dog the view never changes, you know. But but it’s the lead guy that always gets shot up and and burst up. So there’s something to be said for not being an early adopter. However, I think the big key here is that you have to realize it is not a race.

00:05:08:24 – 00:05:27:20
And I think what I shared with you at the time was, when you think about it, Moses, he didn’t even start. I mean, his first 80 years of his life, for all practical purposes, were wasted. I mean, we know they weren’t because he was learning the ways of the desert. God was still working through him and everything and preparing him to do this great thing.

00:05:27:27 – 00:05:44:22
But his life didn’t even start really, his ministry. And he’s one of the greats. I mean, probably the greatest, maybe next to Abraham in the Old Testament. He’s one of the greatest men God used. they refer back to him all the time like they do to Abraham. But he didn’t even start till I was eight years old.

00:05:44:22 – 00:06:02:00
And so what I’m saying is you don’t have to wait until you’re 80. What I’m saying, though, is that God has a timeline for each of our lives. Paul talks about. You know, I told you, it’s not a race. Well, Paul talked about I finished the race, but it was a it’s not a race against other people.

00:06:02:03 – 00:06:05:12
That’s that’s an important thing because we’re always comparing ourselves to other people.

00:06:05:12 – 00:06:23:20
Exactly. And that’s the problem. If we feel like I’m racing against because he also says I fought a good fight. Well the fight isn’t against other Christians, neither is the race against other people. The race is finishing the course that God has laid out for you, and that’s how I read it. I finished my course, the one God laid out for me.

00:06:23:22 – 00:06:43:09
I finished it and it might be a short course. You think a James, you know, Peter, James and John, that James was killed right at the start of the book of acts. I mean, he he spent three years with Jesus, and then he’s killed right away. Never really gets to do much. And the James that we read about who wrote the book, is the brother of Jesus.

00:06:43:09 – 00:07:08:24
Not that James, that James was killed right away but his brother John lived the longest and so was one of failure and one of success. Now, God, God’s plan for this guy. It was a short race, a sprint. God’s plan for this guy was a marathon. God’s plan for Moses was a real marathon a lot of years, you know, but most those years were just preparation, you know, just stretching and getting ready for the gun to sound so he could take off.

00:07:08:26 – 00:07:22:21
Yeah. So I think we just have to keep in mind that God knows what he’s doing in our life, and he has a purpose for us, and you can run ahead of him, but you’re just going to have to stop and go back to this finish starting line and wait until it’s right for you.

00:07:22:24 – 00:07:41:19
You’re talking about how God has like it’s been preparation, one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read. And I’ve talked about this a dozen times on the podcast, but I’ve never had the book available. It’s this book right here. It’s called Old Masters and Young Geniuses. it’s by, David Ensign. And if you’re not on YouTube, you can’t see this.

00:07:41:19 – 00:07:46:18
So I would encourage you to go to YouTube and subscribe where you can see what this book I’m holding up.

00:07:46:20 – 00:07:48:20
Blessing the thinking. See the book until you subscribe.

00:07:48:21 – 00:07:49:16
That’s right, that’s right.

00:07:49:16 – 00:07:50:20
So magic is.

00:07:50:24 – 00:08:11:10
The essence of this book. The book. This guy is an art art guy, and he basically has concluded the pieces of work of art that we generally consider the greatest work of art were actually created by artists in their later stages of life. And he says there’s two kinds of innovators. He calls them experimental and conceptual and conceptual innovators are ones that that kind of get their one hit wonder early.

00:08:11:12 – 00:08:27:06
Yeah. And they come up with a new way of doing things. And they they hit a new way of doing things early on. He says. Rafael is one of those they says, most of the great works of art that we really value as great works were done by the old masters. And if you look at their work, they did these spectrograph or something where you can look at their work.

00:08:27:06 – 00:08:45:14
You see that many of the works of art that we call the greatest are built on layers of previous attempts, like even the Mona Lisa. When you scan it, there’s previous attempts, and then they paint over it and paint over it and paint over it. Back in the day, you know, supplies were very expensive. So canvases, they would just paint over it until it’s finished.

00:08:45:14 – 00:09:07:23
And so the idea is, that the works that we consider the greatest were actually built on experimentation over years and years and years. It’s a very rare person that you find that their work just hits it right early on. You know, these geniuses, these, but even guys like, Steve Jobs, I think about he was he was older when he was coming up with things like the, the iPod and things like that.

00:09:08:01 – 00:09:21:16
So we kind of tend to think if we don’t hit our stride early on, maybe we’re missing something. But really the the data seems to indicate most people hit their stride later in life. in that book, Strength to Strength, he talks about that as well, doesn’t he?

00:09:21:19 – 00:09:47:11
Yeah, yeah. Because it’s again, you are building upon what you’ve learned, you know, and again, as you said, there’s every now and then we tend to see the, exception as the norm. Right. So every now and then there’s somebody who just hits it out of the park once and then, but oftentimes they then disappear from the scene, you know, because because it takes the endurance and the continuous and the faithfulness and the just continuing hammering away.

00:09:47:17 – 00:10:02:26
It’s like, yeah, Steve Jobs became an overnight success, didn’t he? Yeah. After years and years and years and yeah, Elon Musk was an overnight success. No, these guys have been building and building and building in obscurity for years and years and years when all of a sudden they become an overnight success.

00:10:02:27 – 00:10:19:28
That is so true. If you look at anybody that you’re like, wow, they became an overnight success. A friend of mine’s wife just heard her music took off right. And because I know what I know about success, I went to him and I was like, did y’all go through, like, just the most brutal season recently? He’s like, yeah, that’s what happened.

00:10:19:29 – 00:10:38:01
And he’s like. And then at the end of it, her music took off. Yeah. Like, yeah, you don’t get to where you are without having gone through many, many, many challenges. And the ones that didn’t have the challenges that built their character leading up to their success, you see, oftentimes they crash and burn. I mean, how many great pastors you see like they’re top of their game, right?

00:10:38:01 – 00:10:56:03
It’s like they come out of nowhere, seemingly. And then next thing you know, they just their whole ministry crashes and burns or fails. Yeah. And so much of the time, that character you need to sustain you in the long term is built in obscurity. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, maybe that’s for being a late bloomer as a blessing where you’re not you don’t have the pressure on you.

00:10:56:08 – 00:11:10:02
I had a friend of mine and he wrote a song early on. I think it was in his teens. The song just took off millions and millions and millions of copies of the song. And he said, it’s stressful because the rest of your life you’re trying to live up to that thing. Authors that hit a book, their first book takes off.

00:11:10:02 – 00:11:24:09
They feel like they’ve got to follow up with something just as great, and rarely are you able to do that. So you get to the point where you go, it becomes a burden. And so maybe the blessing of being a late bloomer is nobody’s got their eye on you to see. What else are you going to produce. Yeah.

00:11:24:09 – 00:11:28:16
You get to kind of sneak into the the side door of success.

00:11:28:17 – 00:11:52:03
Yeah, yeah. Well, and That foundation you’re talking about being built. I’m going through first Peter. Right now I’m doing dynasty. So everything in my mind is first Peter, you know, but he talks about the testing of your faith that is more precious than gold. And he talks about how that when the faith has been tested, it comes out pure and it’s precious to God.

00:11:52:06 – 00:12:15:02
And I realize that that is exactly what if your faith hasn’t been tested, if you haven’t been tested, if you haven’t gone through that fire, then, it is what builds a solid foundation. And that’s, as you were talking, so many men and I guess women as well. They are able to build something that out, strips the character of, of their foundation.

00:12:15:04 – 00:12:41:19
And so you’ve got this big, tall ministry or life or reputation or whatever it’s built, but with, with a faulty foundation and the seeds of the destruction of any organization or any ministry or any life, the seeds of that lay in the foundation, the seeds, the destruction of that, laying the foundation. So if I’ve got something that’s built big, but I’ve got a weak foundation, it’s not hard for me to just hit that foundation and the whole thing comes tumbling down.

00:12:41:21 – 00:13:01:08
And that’s what happens so many times. We haven’t built the foundation. And so our walk with God, our responsibility is to make the roots go deep. And then when the roots, as the roots get deeper, God can take care of the expansion of how why that ministry goes. Our response base to go deep in the Lord, build good roots.

00:13:01:10 – 00:13:04:12
And then what happens out of that? Yeah, we can take care of that.

00:13:04:14 – 00:13:27:10
I want to read that verse. first Peter one seven is the one you’re referring to. It’s well, actually six it says in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. Yeah. Yes. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may results in praise, glory, and honor.

00:13:27:12 – 00:13:51:21
When Jesus Christ is revealed, though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and you are filled with the inexpressible and glorious joy. You know, Peter, man, he up for being a fisherman. He’s a pretty good writer. Later on, and at the end of his life, I’m working through Second Peter right now, and I’m like, this dude is pretty eloquent at the end of his life, but he had to beat his head against some walls to get there.

00:13:51:21 – 00:14:00:04
Well, that’s what I’m going to start off telling people that it’s not the disciple Peter that we all know no one love who wrote that book. It was a changed man.

00:14:00:04 – 00:14:10:25
Yeah, it was a refined. It was a refined by fire. Peter. Yeah. And I’m like in a second Peter and some of his language. I’m like, this is as eloquent as Paul and Minnie. It’s almost more beautiful than Paul because Paul’s so hard core about.

00:14:10:25 – 00:14:30:08
Everything and so much stuff is deep, theologically hard to understand as well. Peter, you know, so that’s what I say. It’s not the disciple Peter, it’s the Peter that’s been through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, which he refers to also in that verse. And I wonder, why does our praise, why does our why do those difficulties produce praise to the glory of God the Father?

00:14:30:10 – 00:14:53:03
And I realized it’s because if our faith endures that fire, it’s because our faith is in him, not in the goodies. Not in that. Oh, life’s good. And you become a Christian. Everything’s going to be wonderful. Beautiful. Whoa! Awesome. If that were the case then big deal. Everybody be a Christian. Why not? But when your faith endures those trials in faith, you still say, though you slay me, Lord, yet, well, I trust you.

00:14:53:05 – 00:14:54:27
I’ll let job. Yeah.

00:14:54:29 – 00:15:07:10
When you can say that. God, I don’t whatever goes. If it goes bad, if it goes. Sorry if it goes wrong though. If you yourself put the knife into my heart, I’m going to trust you then that’s the kind of praise that that God is glorified by.

00:15:07:16 – 00:15:32:02
That that almost makes you wonder too, is oftentimes, God caused us to be what we would consider late bloomers. Because when you get after a series of trials to a place of six, yes, whatever that ends up being, I am convinced success is more of a direction than a destination. You enjoy the journey, right? But when you get to that place, you have something even more great, more gratitude, because you know what it took to get there.

00:15:32:02 – 00:15:43:12
Whereas if you just have an overnight success and you do your thing. Yeah, oftentimes the people that reach the success later in their life, I think they have a lot more gratitude for it because they’ve been through the the trial. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

00:15:43:13 – 00:15:46:18
I think the other thing about that would be I remember a guy planting some trees when.