REFLECTIONS

Power of Vision

“Tell me about you,” I asked the elderly gentleman. He looked inquiringly at me seeming to gather his thoughts before dropping his eyes shyly downward, “Lost,” he said.

The old fellow could hardly go unnoticed. His long grey hair and matching beard made a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. Yet I don’t think his appearance drew me to him. Rather, I think he captured my attention because he looked as he had just described himself—”Lost.”

We learned his name was Philip and that he felt out of place in the world. Though once a highly educated and articulate schoolteacher, life’s disappointments left him with a sense of failure. He feared he had let life pass him by and the prospects for his life to make a difference had been lost. Visions of grand accomplishment had been replaced with homelessness; even worse, hopelessness.

Most of us have gone through times of feeling lost—when disappointment or failure redirected dreams into a state where each day awakens with no purpose to serve and regrets over what might have been cloud the vision for what still could be. Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)

Apostle Paul’s once zealous vision for his future came to a shocking end from a blinding Light on the Damascus road. He had dedicated his life to uphold God’s law when Jesus intervened with a course correction. Once his eyes refocused and time in the desert allowed him to think things through, Paul re-envisioned “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:2-4) So, Paul committed the rest of his life serving Jesus Christ as a herald and an apostle… and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles. (1 Timothy 2:7)

Vision is not a mystical phenomenon. It is the image we have of the future we pursue. Our vision may be a conscious one as it was with Paul, or it may be subliminal as Philip’s likely had been. But make no mistake, we all need one. The vision we have for our lives forms the foundation for the decisions we make. And the clearer the vision the sounder and more meaningful decisions will be as we walk through this life.

God created us in his image. He granted us the ability to envision how our lives can make a better tomorrow. And the power of vision overcomes life’s disappointments and drives the pursuit for what still could be.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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