Word of the Week - Vision - Part 2

Then the Lord answered me, 'Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true.' But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:2-3

Power of a written Vision: As discussed last week (see here), having a godly Vision for you and your family is powerful and leads to life, but it is even more powerful if your family Vision is written and shared. Research indicates that if you write down a goal you have a 73% chance of accomplishing the goal even if you forgot you wrote it down. Even more powerful, research indicates that if you write down a goal and share it with someone and ask to be held accountable, there is a 90% chance you will achieve the goal over time. A Vision is simply a long-term goal.  The scripture above from Habakkuk promises us that if we write down our Vision and make it clear, it will come true in God’s timing.The Impact of written Vision and Values on our Family and Heritage: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9  As leaders of our families we have an amazing opportunity and responsibility to impact not only our immediate family but generations to come through how we lead and steward our families. You will rarely find a good business that does not have a written Vision, Mission and Values, but you may be hard pressed to find many families that have written Vision, Mission and Values. This can truly be the difference maker between your family Heritage (kids, grandkids and great grandkids) living in generational blessing or not. Especially in today’s world where the family is under attack from almost every direction, there has never been a time in history where our families need clarity of identity grounded in Christ. This starts within our families, knowing who we are and what we are about. Having clarity of purpose and knowing what we believe and our values. This gives our kids and grandkids a healthy sense of belonging and security.Family Vision and Values are like a compass (direction), rudder (grounding) and telescope (foresight) for your family: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1  Where family identity is strong outside influences like culture and peer pressure are weak.  As leaders of our families we cannot control the culture around us but we can influence and impact the culture and sense of identity and security within our families. Healthy interdependent families look inside the family to have their needs met whereas less healthy independent families tend to look outside to the world to find their identity and have their needs met. This can be very dangerous and destructive, especially in their formative years of transitioning from adolescents to adult.  As leaders in our families and homes, we need to work to develop and give clarity on family identity, vision and purpose. This is more caught than taught so we need to actually walk the talk; we must lead by example if we expect our kids and grandkids to follow, but it starts with intentionality and clarity – having written vision and values.Personal application and resources: "I heard and forgot, I saw and remembered, I did and I understood" Bruce Johnston  With the influence and help of several key mentors and advisors in my life to include: my father-in-law, Bill Doré, my pastor, Chris Hodges, my friend and Founder of JH/Outback, Bruce Johnston, my life Coach, Phil Nicaud, and many more that are not named, our family started this process about 8 years ago and it has produced tremendous fruit thus far.  So much so that I founded the Heritage Forum. The Heritage Forum is a ministry platform that is used to equip high capacity leaders with best practices to live out their kingdom purpose by developing a Heritage Vision for themselves and their families. I was recently introduced to Greg Gunn who founded Family ID. Some of the ideas noted above came out of my time with Greg. Greg and his wife Rhonda are passionate about leading families toward developing strong identity through the process of building a godly family Vision, Mission and Values as a foundation for family identity in Christ.“But blessed is the (family) who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. They do not fear when heat comes; their leaves are always green. It they have no worries in a year of drought and they never fails to bear fruit” Jeremiah 17:7-8Be a family with godly vision and enjoy generational blessings in the good times and the times of challenge.-Duane