Last week I wrote about the importance of looking ahead with vision, so we can predetermine future success.

For me, my family and our church, I look ahead seven years at a time and develop strategic plans based on what I see ahead.


Doctors tell us that our bodies go through a physiological cycle every seven years; sociologists teach that we experience seven-year cycles in our emotional and social maturing process; economists report that the health of our fiscal economy cycles in about seven years; and the Bible describes a clear seven-year spiritual cycle, so that’s how I’ve learned to plan my life.
I write out a seven-year vision statement for my life and my career and then assess my vision on an annual basis. If I want to be at a certain place by the time I’m 70 years of age, then every year from now that passes, I should be one-seventh of the way closer to my future vision.


You can use the word vision as an acrostic to help you remember these six steps:
        Set             Values
        Allow           Insight
        Plant           Seeds
        Make            Investments
        Prepare for     Opposition
        Harvest         New fruit


First we must have set values. For me the Word of God establishes my values such as: love for God and fellow man, faith in God, healthy family life and integrity in all relationships. Those values form a fence around my vision of the future. Say my vision is to see this peach stone I wrote about last week, become a prolific orchard of peach trees, then knowing the parameters of my property gives me a starting place.
Secondly, allow insight to flow freely. Ask God to open your eyes and see the invisible world ahead. Dream big dreams, but keep them anchored in who you are and who God is. I love to sit on a literal mountain top and look far away as I’m dreaming.
Thirdly, plant the seeds. Remember the 2,000-year-old lotus plant that the Japanese archeologist found a while ago? (They planted the seed after it had been asleep for two millennia and it flowered!) Like my peach stone, it never saw its huge potential realized until it was actually planted. Write your vision down. Talk to a trusted friend about it.
Fourthly, make investments. When I began seriously writing a few years ago I only had a dream. But that dream began to be an attainable reality when I invested energy, time and money into it. Because I believed in my vision I invested literally thousands of hours and dollars into its fulfillment. There is a cost to realized visions.
Fifthly, prepare for opposition. Don’t be surprised when your vision appears to die in front of you. Remember Moses’ vision to be a deliverer, Jesus’ vision to be a king, his disciples’ vision to rule with him — each of them died before their fulfillment. Jesus taught that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone. Opposition is the valley where character is formed, which prepares us to live in our envisioned reality.
And lastly, harvest the new fruit. Enjoy the fulfillment of your dreams. See, smell and taste the fruit of success. You’ve earned it and so enjoy it.
I’ve just returned this morning from the optometrist. He has given me a new prescription to help me see better. What he gave me was one contact lens in my left eye so that I can read accurately, and another contact lens in my right eye so that I can see far away. Together they give me 20/20 vision for up close as well as distance.
My contacts illustrate how God wants us to see. Keep a realistic eye on your present. That’s your anchor in reality — your relationships with God and friends; your health in spirit, soul and body; your financial strength; and your gifting and abilities. But keep the other eye focused on your potential future. See it as an attainable reality. That’s what I call 20/20 vision. I pray that you keep looking and keep seeing.