Don’t confuse your vision and your plans
Vision doesn’t change. Plans change constantly. Your vision is your overall goal. Your plans are your flexible means–changing to reflect new realities and new knowledge–to get you there.
Suppose you have a vision to launch a new campus. You decide to do so in a movie theater. It would be a significant mistake to tell people that God’s vision is for you to launch a new campus in a movie theater. What happens when you discover no theaters in your area are available? If you told people that was part of the vision, then all enthusiasm for a new campus goes away!
Instead, keep in mind that the vision is launching a new campus. Doing so in a movie theater is just your initial plan. If that falls through, so what? You’ve learned that that was the wrong plan. So you think and pray some more and develop a new plan–but your vision didn’t change.
It can be hard letting plans go–especially if we were the ones that came up with them. But isn’t the vision really what matters? Sometimes we can hold onto a plan to avoid sacrificing some credibility in the short-term. But all that does is ruin our credibility over the long haul. Bite the bullet and say, “You know what, my plan wasn’t the best idea. We’re going to drop that. But our vision hasn’t changed, so how are we going to get there?”
March 29th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Brian, I so appreciate your thoughts here. What a great word for those of us who have a vision, but struggle with a consistent plan/strategy. There is great freedom in being able to let go of a plan that isn’t working… without abandoning the vision! The important thing is maintaining close communication with the Giver of the vision in order to discern the next step in HIS plan!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Thanks, Andee. Isn’t it a relief to know our plans don’t have to stay consistent? In fact, if they don’t change often enough then we can be failing to pursue the strategy that will help achieve our vision given the things that change around us.