What is the role of good timing in our lives?

Good timin, a tick a tick a tick a tick a
timin is the thing it's true, good timin' brought me to you.

These lyrics were written by Jimmy Jones in the sixties. He was one of the early rock and rollers.  The song suggests the importance of timing and falling in love. I have always wondered about the idea of “good timing.” It seems to be something that can account for so much good or bad in the world.  A friend of mine’s son was killed in a car accident on the way to pick his parents up at the airport as they returned from vacation.  He was only 29 years old.  A young woman was killed while running on the street when a car veered into her path and struck her. She was 18 years old.  A two year old toddler wanders outside on a cold night and dies of exposure.  A different time of day, a different day and a different season and all these people would still be alive.

Another person starts a business to sell disk operating systems and becomes the richest person in the world.  Sam Walton starts a retail discount business fifty years after Sears, Penney’s, Wards, Grants, Woolworths, Target and K-Mart and creates the largest discount store in the world.  Mary Poppins and the Wizard of Oz both were released during some very troubled times in America and went on to become blockbusters. Their message of hope and optimism came at the right time for millions of people who needed some inspiration.

What does it take to get good timing? Can we develop good timing or is one born with good timing, or is it simply luck. I have never been a believer in the idea of luck making anyone successful.  Some pundit once said “luck is where preparation meets opportunity.  This suggests that we are the master of our fates and not the victim of random chance. I see a great deal of evidence of this definition of luck when I look at successful writers, businesspeople, athletes and artists.  

Many people believe that timing comes from God.  It is a gift from the creator and the world unfolds according to God's unseen laws. There is no luck and no serendipity.  There is only a predestination that is beyond our ability to know or understand.  Of course, if we have free will, then this would contradict a view that says God ordains all events.  Humans could not be free if the world was governed by predestination.   

So how do we account for the factor of good timing?  Is timing the one element of success that is random or is timing a factor that is also in our control?  Is timing something we can get better at?  How good do you think your timing is? Where would you improve your timing if you could?  Perhaps by understanding the role that timing plays in our lives we have a better chance of adapting it to our needs or perhaps we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that we are not always masters of our fates.