Happy New Year! Last week, my friend Joe shared about using what God gives us to create God-honoring designs. Does the prospect of creating God-honoring designs feel overwhelming? Are you stumbling around trying to create one? Maybe you need to have your vision checked. Your personal vision, that is.
Why? Well, Isaiah 29:18a (CEB) says, “When there’s no vision, the people get out of control.” The Message Bible translates “the people get out of control” to mean “they stumble all over themselves.” Basically, when you can’t see where you are going, you will go anywhere and do anything.
Are you stumbling around trying to create God-honoring designs? Have your vision checked. #CreatingALifeILove Share on XI don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live my life stumbling around wandering in any direction. My desire is to design another extraordinary life that allows me to use my gifts, talents and skills to bless others. As you can see from the above translations, designs go nowhere without a vision.
Thankfully, I have lived most of my life with a natural sense of direction. So, I didn’t stumble because I could see my next step. I had a vision for my life. That is, until Reggie passed. After Reggie’s passing, The Message Bible’s translation became real for me as I stumbled around in the darkness of my life because, for a long time, I couldn’t see a future without Reggie in it.
My desire is to design another extraordinary life that allows me to use my gifts to bless others. #CreatingALifeILove Share on XRegardless of your reason for stumbling, you can get back on track. Since I don’t want to stumble around anymore, I am starting with a new personal vision that I am writing on the clean slate of my life. You can too!
Two tools I am using to create my new personal vision are a personal vision statement and a bucket list:
Personal Vision Statement
I wrote my first personal vision statement when I was in my twenties. A personal vision statement is a statement written in the present expressing how you would like your life to be in the future. So, you envision what you would like your life to be like, then describe it, but with statements like, “I am…” rather than “I will….”
One of my previous personal vision statements was:
I am a loving, dynamic, and spiritual woman with a full, peaceful life who shares laughter with supportive people.
At the time I created this personal vision statement, my life was very chaotic. I had just ended an unhealthy relationship. While I was in that relationship, it felt like I went from one crisis or drama to another. I was ready to get off that roller coaster, so I developed this vision statement as a guide. Thankfully, I am happy to say that my life is much more peaceful today than it was then because I have more positive people around me.
Over the years, I have revised and added to this personal vision statement, so that it covers multiple areas of my life such as finances and health. This past summer, I expanded it to include my home experience and I have started to create a home in which I love to live.
As you can see, I have found a personal vision statement to be very helpful in creating a life I love. I highly recommend it.
Designs go nowhere without a vision. #CreatingALifeILove Share on XBucket List
When I decided that I wanted to create another extraordinary life, I wanted to think bigger, to really dream this time. So, I decided to create a Bucket List. A Bucket List is a wish list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” Anything can be on the list as long as it is a desire of your heart.
I chose to dream of 100 ideas to put on my Bucket list. This made it a real challenge. I rattled off the first ten or so with ease. Then, I had to really buckle down and search myself to complete it, but doing so showed me sides of myself that I had not captured in my personal vision statement.
Anything can be on the list as long as it is a desire of your heart.
A great joy of mine is visiting new places. When I was younger, I freely traveled accomplishing a “bucket list” goal of visiting all 50 United States. So, I never felt the need to include travel in my personal vision statement. I focused instead on things I struggled with. However, the traveling part of me went on hiatus for a while after Reggie’s passing, as I got accustomed to the idea of traveling by myself.
In reviewing my bucket list, I noticed that a significant number of the things I want to do before I die are visiting various places around the world. Completing my bucket list helped me see that part of me in a different light.
Both a personal vision statement and a bucket list have helped me to put into words what I want my life to look like.
Questions:
- How could a personal vision statement or bucket list improve your personal vision for you life?
- What other vision tools have you used?
