You Can’t Make Progress Without A Vision

Last night I was listening to Andy Stanley talk about vision. It occurred to me that many women, especially women who work or stay at home, don’t ever talk about having a vision for their lives much less live like they have a vision.

Life without a vision is like floating down a creek in a canoe, not knowing what is ahead, rapids or calm waters, snakes or overhanging trees.  Then, when you turn the bend and are faced with some obstacle, you have a hard time making decisions because you have no God given vision to guide you to your goal.

Having a vision doesn’t mean that we don’t walk in trust daily, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t need to seek Him daily for every day’s grace.   Having a vision means we have consulted God and have the Big Picture in mind. Everything we choose to do or not to do is based on the vision that God has given us for our lives.  The choices we make daily become easier and clearer when we have a vision.

You can have a vision for every area of life.  Work, ministry, children, marriage, finances, friendships, Church membership….  Its like a landscape that you draw on paper. What you draw is the Big Picture, the finished product. And each year you work toward achieving that landscape.

If your Big Picture includes a Japanese meditation garden, then the choices for plants and items in your landscape are limited. The choices get easier. And choices that don’t make sense in a Japanese meditation garden, like a modern sculpture or a teddy bear statue,  are out.

Having a vision is like building an interior decorating theme over time. You find things that add to the overall look of the room, you pass up on things that do not add to the look. Over time, your room evolves into what you first envisioned.

This is how it is with a vision for every area of life.   When you pray and ask God for a vision and begin to see that vision, write it down.  Your choices in the area of your vision get easier because you won’t choose to do things or include things in your life that would thwart your vision!

You must involve God in your decision making process, for He is the one true visions come from.  Ask Him, “Father, what is your vision for my relationship with my children?”  Mark and I have done this exact thing.  Our vision for our adult children is to live now so that when the children are adults and have children of their own they will want to come see us, visit and spend time with us.  So the choices we make regarding our children now all revolve around that goal, that vision.

Having a vision for your life is essential for real growth. Visions change over the years, they mature and grow, you add to them and take away until you are sure that the vision you have is the one God intends for you. Then you stick with your vision over time and make the choices that will add to it. A vision gives you focus and purpose. Develop a personal vision in some area of your life today. Write it down.  Then you will have something tangible to work toward as you serve the Lord.

Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”