Of Vision, Faith, and Progression

A Picture of Success

I want to talk about a topic that is absolutely vital for anyone that wants to be successful in any aspect of their lives. That is the importance of 'vision'. This is not only a spiritual principle, but a temporal principle as well, and it is a principle that will enable anyone to achieve just about anything they can possibly imagine. Vision is what future success looks like.
There is a passage in 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carol that I love to use to illustrate the importance of having a personal vision. 

“Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked.                                  'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat.'I don't know,' Alice answered.'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”

If you don't know where you're trying to go, then none of your decisions really matter, and life is far too full of important decisions to take an apathetic view and "go with the flow". I promise there is nothing more dangerous than that philosophy. The most influential men of all time all had an idea of where they wanted to go and achieve. For instance read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I have a dream' speech, or Kennedy's address where he declared "We choose to go to the moon.". Nothing in life happens until we decide on where we want to be at the end of the day, week, month, year, and so on. 

This is a spiritual principle as well as a temporal one. Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish;..." This is a principle that is important to our Heavenly Father. When we lose our vision of who we are, why we're here, and where we are going we become complacent and our faith becomes dormant. In order to properly exercise faith in Christ, we have to have a vision of how we want to improve and where we want to go with our lives. Vision is integral to our faith. Faith cannot exist without vision. 

So then, how do we develop a vision for ourselves? What elements should you include? And where do you even start?

Firstly sort out and list the things that are most important to you. The most important thing to me in my life is my family. Then evaluate your values and standards, and the qualities and traits you would like to develop. I can't possibly express enough the power of a role model, one who already posses elements that you would like to emulate.  Ask yourself a few questions to find out a little more about who you are. Where do I want to be in ten years/five years? If I knew that I could not fail what would I do with my life? All of these will play an important role into what you really want in your life. Remember to ask for the lords guidance in this process as well. 

With a clear direction of where you want to go and having that vision confirmed by the holy ghost will enable you to accomplish literally anything you set your mind to. I've seen this principle in action in every aspect of my life. Whenever I know where I am going, then there is a way for me to accomplish it. Whenever I don't have a vision I am lost. I would challenge you to re-evaluate your own personal vision, and let me know! I would love to hear about it! :) Have a wonderful week! 

This is Part 1 of a three part series on becoming who we're meant to be, click here for Part 2 and here for Part 3!!!