If it is Christmas, and someone says, "Visions of…" to me, I am automatically going to finish off with "sugarplums danced in their heads." Even though this picture to the right is one typical for The Night Before Christmas books where the sentence "visions of sugarplums danced in their heads" is found, I thought sugarplums really were plums. Instead, sugarplums are more like Turkish Delight with fruit, or fruitcake without flour. You can even find a recipe here. Not only did I discover a recipe for sugarplums, I also found out Janet Evanovich has a book titled Visions of Sugar Plums. I think neither the book nor the sugarplums have anything to do with the vision I am thinking of this ninth day of Christmas. Neither am I thinking of ladies dancing. I suppose someone's true love wanted the party to be beautifully festive, so he brought in nine ladies dancing, but then the next day (tomorrow) he sends ten lords a leaping. He now has an extra lord in the mix, unless he is the tenth and his lady love dances with him. But, I digress. This really is not the vision I had for today -- I just had to work in the whole days of Christmas thing.
I wanted to find a really cool picture for VISION, totally forgetting that vision also means eyesight. That's when I found this picture to the left, which was used to entice students at Brown University to enroll in an Introduction to Computer Vision course this past Fall 2013. I did find the image enticing until I put it on the same page with a sweet little girl dreaming of sugar plums. Now it just looks scary. However, I am moving more toward one of my visions of variety in the look of my blog. I see other peoples' blogs, and I see what mine could look like…if only I had the knowledge to make it look better. Each time I write I determine (make a conscious decision) to write better or to learn and do something new. When all goes well, I do both. It helps to be focused on carrying out this plan. Multi-tasking: making pancakes, arranging for plane tickets, and writing at the same time is not working out (burned pancakes, loss of train of thought are two results of my multi-tasking).
Most of the time, I make a "To-Do" list, and it works for a while, but I have no vision of where I am headed. Yesterday, I wrote up what my typical week looks like, and after putting in the functions with set time frames, I wound up with a hodgepodge of activities. The synonym for the word "hodgepodge" is "jumble." Biblically, there is a verse for this condition: "Without a vision, the people perish."
People perish when they don't have a vision because they end up lost in a maze of activities clearly leading nowhere, like being lost inside the grooves of this plant pictured to the left. I was looking for a brain, but then I found this image of an underwater plant whose name I do not know because the site was in French. This image portrays me on a "To-do" day. I may end up feeling like I have done much as I cross off all those actions I have to do, but I do not necessarily end up anywhere. I need a vision. Unfortunately, visions squirm their way out of my head. I was looking at memes today. If you don't know what a meme is, don't feel badly. I didn't know those posts I was seeing on Facebook were called memes either. I just called them "What People Think I Do" posts. I started to write in detail about the definition of meme when I realize I had moved way far away from my original vision for this post -- my vision was to write about vision.
I start out envisioning a blog about vision, just like I wake up in the morning and envision a day of organizing, or a day of sending out cards and letters, or a day of applying for a job, or a wonderful day of seeing old friends.
What actually happens to my vision: Distractions set in, or fear hops on board, or reality comes calling. Reality isn't such a bad addition to vision…if it really is reality. When I was younger, I thought about all sorts of career choices: most of them had to do with fame and fortune. I realized I could not sing so becoming a singer was a good vision to cast aside. That's what I thought this morning, until I recalled that there are many singers who can not sing, yet they are making a living by singing. Which makes me wonder if maybe some deficits can be overcome by sheer tenacity, perseverance, and practice. Nonetheless, if I vomit at the sight of bodily fluids, being in the medical profession is probably not a good vision.
What people actually see of my vision is not much when distractions keep leading me astray. Visions have to be accompanied by determination and the means to carry out that determination. Dallas Willard writes extensively of this model VIM (vision, intention, means) in his book Renovation of the Heart.
When fear tries to destroy my vision, I need to go back to the original, check to see if it was a good vision in the first place, and if it was good, to remember who is for me -- God. I still need to get out of bed. Seriously, I am not interested in being God's robot or zombie. He's not interested in making me one either.
As I start the new year, I am putting some vim, energy and enthusiasm for vision, intention, and means into my days. Not to be confused by VIM -- vendor independent messaging…whatever that means to computer knowledgeable people (my goodness, the things I learn…and get distracted by…when I look up material for this blog).
Most of the time, I make a "To-Do" list, and it works for a while, but I have no vision of where I am headed. Yesterday, I wrote up what my typical week looks like, and after putting in the functions with set time frames, I wound up with a hodgepodge of activities. The synonym for the word "hodgepodge" is "jumble." Biblically, there is a verse for this condition: "Without a vision, the people perish."
I start out envisioning a blog about vision, just like I wake up in the morning and envision a day of organizing, or a day of sending out cards and letters, or a day of applying for a job, or a wonderful day of seeing old friends.
What actually happens to my vision: Distractions set in, or fear hops on board, or reality comes calling. Reality isn't such a bad addition to vision…if it really is reality. When I was younger, I thought about all sorts of career choices: most of them had to do with fame and fortune. I realized I could not sing so becoming a singer was a good vision to cast aside. That's what I thought this morning, until I recalled that there are many singers who can not sing, yet they are making a living by singing. Which makes me wonder if maybe some deficits can be overcome by sheer tenacity, perseverance, and practice. Nonetheless, if I vomit at the sight of bodily fluids, being in the medical profession is probably not a good vision.
What people actually see of my vision is not much when distractions keep leading me astray. Visions have to be accompanied by determination and the means to carry out that determination. Dallas Willard writes extensively of this model VIM (vision, intention, means) in his book Renovation of the Heart.
When fear tries to destroy my vision, I need to go back to the original, check to see if it was a good vision in the first place, and if it was good, to remember who is for me -- God. I still need to get out of bed. Seriously, I am not interested in being God's robot or zombie. He's not interested in making me one either.
As I start the new year, I am putting some vim, energy and enthusiasm for vision, intention, and means into my days. Not to be confused by VIM -- vendor independent messaging…whatever that means to computer knowledgeable people (my goodness, the things I learn…and get distracted by…when I look up material for this blog).
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