Spiritual Formation should be seen Diachronically

(From this morning read of, Cultivating Your Inner Life by Edmund Chan)

"...We often see spiritual formation synchronically, as an event in time. I attend a conference, I do my quiet time, I memorise scripture, I join a cell group etc. Each takes places at one point of our life. Piecemeal. 

But Spiritual Formation should be seen diachronically. 

Not as an even in time but as a process through time. Spiritual Formation is a long term investment, a long term process. Not short-term. Spiritual formation must be viewed as an entire process. Not piecemeal. 

... We are tutored by the different seasons of life and are humbled by them. We grow in the seasons of life. When that happens our walk with God mellows, matures and deepens. From the inside out.'