People seem to aim their sights pretty low. I remember visiting with a lady as a young pastor who had this to say about teenage sexual activity, “Well, they’re gonna be teenagers”. Some time later she had a grandchild on the way from her high school son. Now, I’m not saying that happened because mom’s sights were low. But the vision you have for yourself and others will affect reality.

Below is a little grid or filter I use to help me evaluate what I’m aiming for and I’ll apply it for parenting, finances, health and spirituality:

• “A” desires represent the best or great: children that have secure identities(parenting), margin to pursue dreams(finances), feeling great(health), and overflowing with love(spirituality).
• “B” desires represent the good: children that have happy middle class lives, bills paid, no illness that gets in the way of life, and no overwhelming guilt/shame.
• “C” desires represent the base line: children that aren’t involved in illegal activities, surviving but on credit, manageable symptoms through medication, and periods of relief from internal misery.

Be honest about what you’re attempting to see happen in your life. Tease this out for yourself.

1. Classifying your desires helps you be honest about what you’re aiming for and can help you understand the results you’re getting.
2. Classifying your desires can help you elevate what you’re shooting for. I’m not guaranteeing you always get the “A” but why shoot for less. You can’t control all the factors that shape these desires. But you can BE AWARE of what you’re actually attempting.

Right now, think about something you want to achieve or see happen (parenting, career, finances, spirituality, schedule, relationships, school, marriage, etc.) and attempt to classify these 3 levels. What are you really aiming for?

Thoughts?

I hear people speak often about things they want to change but few schedule the baby steps. Until it’s scheduled it isn’t real. A calendar can be a measuring tool.

I hear pastors talk about their church’s vision but if it’s not measurable how do you know you’re actually accomplishing the vision?  Here’s our rallying cry as a church. The four directions are symbolic of our logo -the compass. I had to put this down on paper for our web redesign today and thought I’d post it here:

• Mission: Helping people discover life to the full in Jesus-
• North: Worship (action) Spirit-empowered living (value) Increasing awareness of Jesus presence (measurable)
• East: Give (action) Generosity (value) giving and living 10/10/80 (measurable)
• South: Serve (action) Humility (value) serving and inviting @ Discovery gatherings (measurable)
• West: Risk (action) Healing (value) one safe redemptive friendship where there are no secrets (measurable)
• Our milestone: in 5 years 500 people moving forward in all four actions.

The vision is the four actions fueled by the values and then measured. The milestone is an inspiration point. The key phrase in the milestone is “moving forward”. The number doesn’t matter if lives aren’t being changed. Side note: The clarity of this vision is a result of much wrestling, praying, and dialogue.

Discovery church: As a reminder, while we are in the boot camp phase we are building systems, teams, web presence, etc all to support the vision. As I’ve challenged us, are you living it?

I could type pages about all this but the point for you and me is : have you defined what’s measurable about your vision?