Okay, so we've moved on from our past series on the value of our decisions (if you missed it, read the previous posts -- they're awesome), and now we've started a new discussion series on our goals and moving into our future. This past Tuesday Dayton talked about having a vision for the future.
We got started with Habakkuk 2:2 -- "Write the vision and make it plain on tablet, that he may run who reads it." Dayton relayed the results of a study done at Harvard University which found that for one of its graduating classes, the 15% who had goals (regardless of grades) in mind for their life at graduation went on to make more than the 85% who didn't, and the 3% of the classes who had written their stated goals went on to become more wealthy than the rest of the class combined.
We then looked at Genesis 13:14-16, where God gave Abram a vision for his future. It was right after Lot had moved away from him, and had chosen the best of the land to dwell in (or so he thought). But God told Abram that everything he could see would belong to him, and the number of his descendants would be immeasurable. How's that for something to look forward to? But the thing that Dayton pointed out was the first thing that God said to Abram: "Lift up your eyes and look out from where you are." We can't focus on where we are and get a vision for a life we've never had. Abram had to look at what was in the distance, not where he was. We've heard it before, "What you see is what you get." People say it to show that they're real, or down-to-earth. But it can also be said when getting a vision for your future; what you see (focus on in your mind) is what you get.
Dayton quoted Webster's definition of imagination -- the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality. And he pointed out that imagination is a human characteristic; we're the ones who can develop and focus our minds on something that we have no first hand knowledge of. So when God said that He is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20 NIV), He seemed to expect us to use our imaginations for our lives! (Mind-blowing, I know!) Our vision for the future needs to be something that we can only imagine right now -- something that it's going to take God to fulfill.
But goals and visions are just something we daydream about; it's not a goal if we don't try to achieve it. Dayton gave us some great examples of people who had a vision and took action, including George W. Vanderbilt, who, after traveling the world, got a vision of the house he wanted in North Carolina, and constructed Biltmore, complete with an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, exercise equipment room, two-story library, and intercom system, among other things. (Not bad for a house built in the 1800s!) Even Jacob in the Bible, when he was working for his father-in-law, had a goal to become wealthy in his own right. So when Laban (said father-in-law), said "I keep the pretty solid-colored sheep and you get the ugly spotted/striped ones ('cause he really talked like that), Jacob had the idea to take sticks and cut the bark off in a way that made them look spotted and striped. He put those sticks in plain view of the area where the sheep went to mate, and voila! The sheep produced spotted/striped sheep instead of solid-colored ones! (Please don't ask me how that works.) The point is, they produced what they saw (literally) so Jacob could produce in his life what he saw in his mind.
Chip added a real-life (not the others are real life...) story about a friend of his who decided that was going to Walmart stores, and drove to the headquarters in Arkansas, and waited for Sam Walton to come out of his office so he'd have a chance to talk to him. Even though Mr. Walton (no not that Walton) had never heard of him, he was impressed by his tenacity and hired him. This same friend, now a very wealthy man, recently had a piece of land he wanted to sell, and told Chip how he had wanted to sell it for one price, but the other people involved didn't think it would sell for that much and wanted to sell at a lower price. Once he made the decision not to market it for less than he believed it was worth, the land sold, for his price, within 24 hours. Aaron also noted a lesson he learned when he first began riding motorcycles -- where you're looking is where you're headed. It definitely applies away from motorcycles as well. And if we look nowhere, we go nowhere, which Kevin pointed out from Proverbs 29:18.
So, to recap:
-- Goals/Visions for your life are good!
-- You have to have them if you want any sort of life!
-- Dream big! Use your imagination!
-- If you aren't trying for it (in some way however small), it doesn't count!
As Dayton noted in John 10:10, God wants us to have life so abundantly it overflows the measures this world would put on it. We know what God wants us to have. What we do have is up to us.
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I think Dayton’s topic is really timely for our age group (even if it’s a recycled message that we’ve heard before) because we’re at the point when we need to decide “What do I want to do with my life?” We have a plethora of choices before us and it’s time for us to reach down and pick one up and pursue that with everything in us. I think sometimes, when we daydream about our futures, we have this mindset that those things could never happen because they’re just too big. I forget who said this, it might’ve been Pastor King, but I once heard, “How big is God? Well, how big do you need Him to be?” How big is God to us? Is He only big enough for us to have a minimum wage job, barely get by and never realize our true potential or is He big enough to propel us into a future that’s full of amazing things and wonderful opportunities? God has great plans for all of us but we have to believe that instead of never stepping out and trusting Him. I think sometimes we let fear keep us from taking that plunge into the unknown. We’re scared that we might fail or we just aren’t good enough and we refuse to budge from the security of what we know. It’s hard truly letting go of everything and giving it to God, not knowing what He’ll do with it. He may require things of us that’ll force us to step outside the box. I know that’s hard sometimes because we don’t like not knowing what’s ahead. I was watching the movie, Love Comes Softly and one part that stood out to me was when Clark and Marty (who’s a girl in case you’re wondering) went to where Clark would “have church” (it’s a pioneer movie so he would just go somewhere alone on Sundays to read his Bible and sing hymns). They’re standing on the edge of a cliff, mountains looming all around – it’s very picturesque. Marty asked Clark how he could believe in a God who would allow bad things to happen. Why would God allow Clark’s first wife to die, leaving him and his daughter alone or allow Marty’s first husband to die, leaving her alone? Clark looks at her says that he could be walking right beside his daughter but she could still fall down. “The truth of God's love is not that he allows bad things to happen. It's His promise that He'll be here with us when they do.” We can come up with so many reasons why we shouldn’t take a chance and go after that dream we have. But that’s all they are – excuses. God has promised to be with us always. No, things may not go as we plan. We might not be successful the first time but God is still beside us, ready to catch us when we fall. So, to quote W. Clement Stone, “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.” I’m sorry; I just could resist using Dayton’s favorite quote. But seriously, we need to go after our dreams and not just let them remain as such. One thing I’ve realized is that if God put the dream in us, wouldn’t He help us make it happen?
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