Show me your vision

“Show me your vision, and I’ll show you your future.”- South Korean Pastor David Yonggi Cho

Mark Batterson continues Chapter 15 of The Circle Maker with the observation that “vision starts with visualization.”  He cites a 1995 study by Alvaro Pascual indicating that the brain’s motor cortex is just as active mentally rehearsing a five-finger piano exercise as it is during actual physical practice.

Mental rehearsal literally is mind over matter.  At a minimum, it’s equal to physical practice- and may be more important.  Mark explains:

“When you dream, your mind forms a mental image that becomes both a picture of and a map to your destiny.  That picture of the future is one dimension of faith, and the way you frame it is by circling it in prayer.”

Goal-setting serves an important purpose.  Goals are the GPS that gets you to the destination of your dreams.  Goals are unique to each individual, reflecting one’s unique personality and passions.  Everyone arrives at their goals via different avenues.  Mark offers ten steps to goal-setting to help  guide you as you circle your life goals.  The first two steps are presented today.

1.  Start with prayer.  Mark emphasizes prayer is the best way to jump-start the goal-setting process.  Setting your goals in the context of prayer raises the likelihood that those goals will glorify God.  Unless your goals glorify God, they aren’t worth setting.

2.  Check your motives.  Mark encourages you to examine your motives with total honesty.  Be certain your goals are God-glorifying.  Mark writes: “. . . you make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.”

Today’s question: If you were asked “show me your vision,” what specific goals would you describe to achieve your dream?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “A stock clerk with a goal”

 

Show me your vision

Life goal list

Mark Batterson begins Chapter 15 (“Life Goal List”) of The Circle Maker by telling a story about American adventurer and explorer John Goddard.  On a rainy afternoon in 1940, Goddard, then fifteen, wrote a list of 127 life goals.  Pastor Batterson’s favorite Goddard goal is one Goddard never achieved: Visit the moon.  Mark reminds us that no one had escaped the earth’s atmosphere when Goddard set that goal.

The author explains why the brain is a goal-seeking organism:

“Setting a goal creates structural tension in your brain, which will seek to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, who you are and who you want to become.  If you don’t set goals, your mind will become stagnant.  Goal-setting is good stewardship of your right brain imagination.  It’s also great for your prayer life.”

Pastor Batterson states that goal-setting is a great way of simultaneously praying hard, thinking long, and dreaming big.

1.  Goals are the cause and effect of praying hard.  On the front end, Mark notes, prayer is a goal incubator.  On the back end, prayer ensures that you will keep praying hard because praying hard is the only way to accomplish a God-sized goal.

2.  Goals are a great way of thinking long.  Life goals may take a lifetime to achieve.  After all, they are life goals.  But they are worth waiting and working for.

3.  Setting goals is a practical way of dreaming big.  Mark defines goals as “well-defined dreams that are measurable” and “dreams with deadlines.”  Deadlines are crucial because they keep dreams alive and even bring them back to life.

Today’s question: Following your ministry downsizing or vocation loss, have you written down a life goal list?  Why is it important to do so?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Show me your vision”

 

 

Life goal list