Just like a golfer who feels the purity of the perfect golf swing, or a baseball player hearing the sublime crack of the bat on the ball, so the fisherman likens the perfect cast to a thing of beauty. Although the type of rod and the line are essential to casting, the momentum and timing are key as well.
Any fishermen can tell you about the importance of casting when catching a fish. Most believe the length of the cast is one factor that can influence the size of the fish.
Casting a vision is similar to casting a fishing line. It requires proper tools and strategy.
Adena Lowry is a junior high teacher at Strathcona Christian Academy and a part of the North Pointe family. She recently joined the Writers Group at North Pointe and this is her first published post. Her composition comes from her committed devotion to finding God’s will in the needs she sees. Adena understands the power of vision in her initiative to raise money for orphans in Burundi.
Courage to Become
The beginning of a vision can be quite overwhelming. You may know that God has spoken to you, yet the initial actions require a great deal of courage. E. E. Cummings said, “It takes courage to become who you really are.” It takes more courage to become who God wants you to be.”
Complacency may be the easiest road to choose, but not the most beneficial. Beginning is difficult.
If you wait until your feelings are aligned with your desires, you may never start.
Waking up early, spending time late into the night, giving up comforts, and sacrificing what you want now for what you want ultimately requires discipline. None of this comes naturally.
Sometimes you need “do2be”. That is, to just start doing and you’ll find that, with time, you will begin to be.
Courage is feeling fear and doing it anyway.
3 Parts To Casting Vision
1. To cast a vision is to cause excitement about the future, and to anticipate the future with confidence. To hear from God in your prayer time is comforting but to actually move with God and his plan, can be daunting. It’s not for the faint of heart.
2. Vision casting requires introspection. Knowing what you want and how to accomplish certain goals takes time, reflection, and prayer. Time to reflect on tough questions that will define your aspirations and ambitions. Ask yourself, “What is it that you want the future to have when you get there?”
3. It is essential to project an outlook with a clear path of success. Walking the path may grow lonely so it is wise to encourage others to seize the vision and walk with you.
Failure, Resiliency and Daydreams
Embrace failure. Humility acts as an agent of learning from failure to eventually experience success. Resiliency requires attaching meaning and purpose to your ambitions.
Avoiding inner growth can lead to a loss in dreams, faith, and trust in God. Proverbs 14:8 says, “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of a fool is deception.”
Discovering inner desires and wants is not always simple. Yet knowing what resonates with your heart can be the first step. Most decisions are made by being pulled toward something or pushed away. It’s fundamental to know what pushes and pulls your heart. Making a list of what you absolutely love, fear, and daydream about will outline your passions. What you love will show you what you are willing to invest in. As well, identifying fears and indignations can indicate what you care about and value.
Definite Commitment
Vision casting is rewarding as you look back and see how God has used you. Yet, when you stand in the middle of the path, it’s not always easy to know where you are being lead. Stay committed to what God has called you to do. It is in the waiting that God is transforming you, and your trust in him is growing.
A clear path unfolds with time. The way is not always certain at the start. Today’s decisions will affect what tomorrow will look like.
Goethe said, “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.” The same is true about God. “All sorts of things occur to help you that would not otherwise have occurred.”
Patient Change
Trust that change is happening even in the waiting. Change happens in small, incremental steps. Patience is crucial for change. When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the metamorphosis takes approximately four weeks. Yet the caterpillar inside the chrysalis doesn’t instantly develop wings and antennas. The process is slow but progressive. Moreover, the caterpillar is required to break itself down before rebuilding.
Change in the human spirit is similar. Old perspectives may need to be broken down for new viewpoints to form. The challenge of being too close to a situation may make the small changes seem like they’re not happening at all. Little by little, the change is occurring.
A marathon runner adds a kilometer at a time, the weight trainer adds a pound at a time, the teacher adds a lesson at a time, and we go to God with one prayer at a time.
What Love Sees
Entrust a faithful companion or friend, someone to hold you accountable. Don’t simply surround yourself with banner-wavers, but people who you trust to hold your truth. People who will ask the difficult questions. Build strong relationships that will allow you to be the best version of yourself. Surround yourself with those that share your ideas and see the possibilities. Victor Frankl wrote that love sees, “potential, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized.”
Walking with God takes bravery, self-examination, and strategic planning. It’s good to know that God is with you. We serve a loving God. His love is not self-serving, but is kind, patient, gentle, and keeps no records of wrong. A love which always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13).
What will God not do for those who dare to ask?
It’s time to get into the river with God and cast your line.
APPLICATION: Do you have a dream? Is Adena’s post helpful in casting vision for your dream? Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
I write to inspire people to be real, grow an authentic faith in Jesus, enjoy healthy relationships and discover their life purpose. If this material is helpful to you, please follow me.
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Wonderful post! Inspiring actually. I won’t go into detail, but I myself am stuck between a rock & a hard place on where I’m supposed to go next in my life. I know my passions but I’m stuck at how to reach those passions to use them for good. God has already used me in different ways surrounding my passions/my story.
Anyways, thanks for your post! It’s encouraging to read things like this and to know that my life is Gods perfect plan and He has everything being down right on track. I guess not fully understanding His plan is slightly frustrating! Question I ask Him often is: why give me such a passion and the life smarts to do a job knowing full well that I don’t have the book smarts? He has steps in place, I know that… but what am I missing?
(Sorry I rambled)
So glad the content was helpful to you. “Not fully understanding” is where we all are. One step at a time is how best to take life. Do what you know to do now. The next step will become clear.
Our weaknesses or insecurities become opportunities for the Lord to show his strength in our lives.
Thank you Jen for commenting.
Great post. I need to find my rod so I can go fishing. I just have to know what I am fishing for first. I guess I better keep reading my bible so God can lead me.