Got Vision?

Obviously I am not talking about whether or not those eyes on your head work properly, but what kind of future do you see for yourself? Where are you going? I think the biggest challenge to vision is being able to set aside what we believe can be accomplished on our own. It is hard to see how God steps in and makes a difference. My own weakness has made it very difficult to have vision for my life. I am doing better than just subsisting, but I am not sure I could argue that I am strongly thriving. Since I am not "strongly thriving", it is hard not to be content with the success I have so far and say that maybe it is impossible for something truly great to come out of my life. What scares me is knowing that I may very well be capable of accomplishing some very great things- and my unwillingness to believe it possible makes it impossible.

Here's a good question: what does it take to improve the scope of our vision? I think part of it is investing time thinking about it. There are a couple of things that seem to be recurring for me as far as what I would like to do with my life, though they need to be prayed through to find what God is saying in the midst of this. Part of the problem is in our definition of success. The American definition of success is to make lots of money and be able to do whatever you want, have whatever you want, and live a pain-free life. I am convinced this is very far from God's definition of success. God defines success first and foremost by how close a relationship we keep with Him all the days of our life. So maybe the person who is most successful in God's eyes would never even grab the world's attention- their success has nothing to do with any kind of worldly definition of success. Now who we become is the result of being close to God, and if we really get close to Jesus we realize that servanthood is a really good way to devote ourselves to him.

I do wonder if it might actually be more important for us to build a vision of ourselves based on who we want to become, instead of what we want to do. For who we become is so much more important than what we do- what we do is the raw material by which we are built into what we become. I see myself developing a real servants heart, becoming patient in difficult circumstances, always leaning on God when things get tough. I see myself developing a deep trust in God to the point of being willing to take great leaps of faith simply because I heard from God first and I know the character of the one speaking to me. Now I see what real vision is- hopefully you can see as well as I that who we become is so much more important than what we accomplish.

Your companion in Christ,
Sean