As we come to the end of our first week out of school, I am reminded where we started the year with our Faculty and Staff. In August, as we planned for the arrival of the students, I challenged our Faculty and Staff on the vision of Tabernacle Christian School. Seeing as how 2020 was just around the corner at the time, it seemed a most appropriate topic. Fast forward into 2020, and vision seems to be the most elusive thing.
But that is only if our idea of “vision” is misplaced. As much as we approached 2020 trying to answer the question of what vision is, maybe we didn’t ask enough about what vision isn’t.
Vision isn’t about what we can see. As I write this, I’m looking out my window at home. I can see the sun shining, the clouds moving across the sky, and Spring finally trying to break through. But I realize that despite how clear it looks outside, I can’t see past the first bend in the road. My sight only lets me see so far.
So then I plan for what I think is around that bend. The scary truth is, though, that while I may have the best of guesses for what that may be, there is no way for me to truly know. When we sat down and planned this school year, we had no idea a pandemic was around the bend. On August 12th I could tell you what I had planned for May 21st. I knew exactly how it would look. As we sit now, our plans sit idle as we wait and see how things progress. My planning lets me get only so far.
So what then is vision? If it isn’t about sight or planning, what is the foundation of vision?
It is faith. It is about realizing that we don’t have to see what is around the bend. We don’t have to plan for every possibility. Our vision should be based on the One who knows what lies around that bend long before we ever built the road. That makes vision far from elusive. Vision can still be our bedrock.
I once heard someone say, “Better things always lie just beyond the scope of faithless eyes.” In the midst of the unknown, I pray we all stay the course to what God has prepared for us beyond what we can see and plan. Our God is too big for our vision to be too small.