“Where there is no vision the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18. Do you have a vision?

This phrase was swirling around in my head after attending a marketing seminar. I was asking myself the question, “What is my vision? What do I see?”

It’s important that we live in the present moment, however, we must have a vision. As the proverb says, “Where there is no vision the people perish.”

A True Story of Vision

Let me tell you a story of someone who had a vision. I will call her Kelly.

I walked into the local grocery store to buy some flowers as a birthday surprise gift. My eyes fell upon a lovely bouquet of flowers that was perfect. Then I looked on the shelf for an appropriate vase.

Finding one, I asked the floral manager if she thought the vase would be big enough. She said, “Yes,” and recommended adding some green leaves to fill out the arrangement.

I was kind of in a hurry and was going to assemble the bouquet myself, but she asked if I wanted her to put it together for me. I gratefully accepted. She picked out four beautiful leaves and began to sculpt the leaves into a decoration expertly clipping and pruning and making the leaves beautiful before the flowers were ever put into the vase.

I said, “You really know what you’re doing.” She chuckled and replied with a yes, telling me how much she loved arranging flowers. I asked her how long she had been doing it and she told me about three years. With a soft voice that was almost a whisper, she said there was a story behind it. I dumped my being in a rush and said, “I love stories! Please tell me!”

Three years ago Kelly worked at a video store. Across the street was a florist. In the florist’s windows were beautiful arrangements of flowers every day. She wistfully looked through the front window at this floral shop thinking how much she would love to arrange flowers. The business was dwindling at the video shop, so she had a lot of time to stare at the floral arrangements across the street.

One day she went into the floral shop to meet the owner. She was an older woman who worked alone. Kelly asked her if she could be her apprentice. She told her how she longingly looked from across the street at her flower shop each day.

The woman told Kelly that she couldn’t afford to pay her. That was no problem for Kelly. She so wanted to learn the art of floral arranging that she volunteered to do it for free to have the opportunity to be mentored by her. The owner, seeing Kelly’s pure desire agreed. She even bought books for her on floral arranging and proceeded to apprentice Kelly in the art. It turned out that Kelly had great talent.

The owner taught Kelly what she knew and the two parted ways. The owner encouraged Kelly to find a position somewhere.

The video store closed and as a result, Kelly was unemployed. She applied to one of the local grocery chains. Kelly has a very effervescent personality and strong communication skills. She landed a job right away.

When she showed up for work, they asked her what she wanted to do? She told them that she wanted to work in the floral department and be a floral designer. This was against their policy because only managers could be in the floral department. They asked Kelly to show them what she knew about flowers. Once again, Kelly showed the natural talent that she had in this area. So, they sent Kelly to FTD school. Now she is a floral designer at the store.

Listen to the Still Small Voice of Yearnings Inside of You

Form a Vision

Take Action

Kelly had a vision of something she longed to do. She was perishing at the video store. More important, Kelly took action on that vision. I so often talk about the still small voice that is inside of us. It is our true essence. It leads us and guides us. It tells us our heart’s deepest desire and what to do when we pay attention. Kelly’s still small voice was telling her to pursue this vision of arranging flowers. That is precisely what she’s doing now. She finds great joy in arranging the flowers and also communicating with the people.

It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of life. It’s easy to go through the motions. When we are not careful, life can be sailing past us with dreams and visions that have been put aside.

Don’t Perish!

Remember, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” Don’t live your life without vision. God has a vision for you.

It is your opportunity and responsibility to serve the world with the greatest part of you. Yes, the world needs you and your talents.

Help to Find and Focus on Your Vision

If you don’t have a natural vision that is leading you like Kelly had, find time to be still, get quiet. journal, meditate, get into nature, find some time where you can tap into the vision. Ask yourself what you really, really, really want. Sometimes it’s easier to figure out what you don’t want. That works just as well. When you start clearing away what you don’t want, what will happen is that vision will become clear.

Once you find a vision, focus. Don’t get distracted. Go after your vision with determination and focus.

If you are always feeling overwhelmed or find that your mind is full of chatter, learning to be still can help. Here is a resource that is helping people all over the world find peace, clarity and guidance. Be Still and Know that I am God meditation CD and downloads. This resource will help you to feel God’s love and presence as you partner on your vision together.

If past failures, regret, or judgments are literally weighing you down physically and emotionally, and keeping you stuck, you need to let them go so that you can move forward. Here’s a great resource to help: A Prayer for Letting Go and cut #5 from my Let it Go CD called Letting Go that you can download for free.