When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
– Exodus 13:23-30
2018 is fast coming to a close. Thanksgiving is in two weeks, and Christmas just four after that. The final months of a year are a great time to step back to review and give thanks for all that God has done in your life and dream about what He has in the future.
For the last several years I’ve set aside a day in December to do exactly that. God has a vision for each of us, and I believe that we have a responsibility to make space for imagining and dreaming into that vision. Like the Israelite spies sent into the promised land to scout out their nation’s future, we have the amazing ability to send our minds scouting into the future to imagine what might be. This is particularly important if you are leading others, whether that means you’re a parent leading your children or a DNA group leader discipling two other people.
Vision casting is like the bringing back of the fruit that the Israelite spies came back with, giving people a taste of what could be theirs if they moved forward in faith. It is this taste of what’s possible that can empower people to do what they didn’t know they could do. As Caleb says in the passage above, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” He wouldn’t have been able to say that if he hadn’t taken the time to spy out the land.
So here’s the challenge for you: join me in remembering and dreaming before the year is out. Set aside 2 hours before the end of 2018 to get alone with God. Bring a notebook and a pen and find a quiet space. Spend the first hour thinking back through the previous year and note down the answers to the following questions:
- What was challenging this year?
- What am I grateful for from this year?
- What have I learned that’s true about me?
- What have I learned that’s true about God?
Spend the second hours looking forward into the coming year. Do this prayerfully, and free your imagination to dream with the Holy Spirit. Answer the following questions:
- What do I want to be true about me at the end of 2019?
- What do I need to do to get there?
- Who will I invite to go with me?
This practice and the answers to those questions comes easier to some than others, but regardless of your wiring taking the time to sit down in God’s presence to remember and dream will bear beautiful fruit.
What’s your vision for 2019? Where is God calling you? Over the next several weeks I’ll be sharing some huge vision shifts for Threshingfloor and what Kelly and I feel that God is calling us to press into in the new year. I’d love to hear from you as well.
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