I am a huge fan of vision boards! I've used them as a way to imagine a future for myself and stay on top of my goals for at least a decade. I was excited to facilitate a Vision Board Workshop for the Second Washington Baptist Missionary Association. I shared with them my tips, testimonies and examples of various vision boards I've created -- big ones, small ones, themed, yearlong, etc. There are so many ways you can approach visioning! 

The thing about vision board making is it's not just about searching for and pasting pretty pictures. You'll have questions. What do I want? Do I really need that? How would I ever achieve that? You'll feel uncomfortable. Maybe I don't deserve that. Why do I want that?

It can be an uncomfortable process, especially for the ambitious or perfectionists. 

I challenge participants to work through those questions. I encourage grace and action. The perfect example of this happened when one of the teens declined a magazine. "There's nothing in there for me!" she proclaimed. It was a business magazine with a stuffy looking exec on the cover. I pressed her to at least check it out. Interestingly enough a word that fit one of her goals was on that magazine!

This exchange reminded me of how often we do the same thing. We bypass opportunities because they don't look like what we expected or wanted. Or maybe it's not coming from a person or place of familiarity, so we overlook it.  

When we quote the popular Hebrews verse, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," we have to recognize two things:

1. Some of our opportunities are hidden "within the pages" or "behind the door" but we have to take action and open it.

2. Despite how it looks, we have to hope and expect something to get something.