Have you ever started to build something without a plan or even an idea of what you were constructing would be when you finished?  I’ve done that a lot of times.  I started college without knowing what I’d major in or what profession I wanted to prepare for;  I’ve started art projects without a vision of the end product; and most recently I started a series of long terraced granite walls without knowing what I’d end up using them for.  I’ve always had the philosophy that sometimes it’s better to do something figuring out what you’re doing along the way than to do nothing.   Too often I’ve seen people paralyzed in life because they think that everything has to be perfectly figured out and planned in great detail before they can begin. Consequently they end up never moving at all.  I think that sometimes it’s better to do something even if the future is unclear, knowing that you may need to make some corrections and adjustments along the way.

After the construction of our root cellar a year ago (see entry #10-13) I still had a long dirt burm that needed something done to it.  It looked incomplete and out of place and without knowing exactly what it would end up becoming I started construction on a long granite  wall along its base (See entry #61).   For awhile it looked kind of strange.  I remember some friends stopping by one day for a quick visit and to check some of our latest projects.  Seeing my partially built wall they asked me what I was doing.   I had to think for a minute before finally admitting I didn’t know.  I simply said it was a work in progress like many other things in my life, but when they left I walked out and pondered my progress.  It was then that I saw it.  I knew what I was building – it would one day become a terraced vineyard to compliment our cellar.  I suddenly had vision and it changed everything.  Now I was motivated and my progress rapidly accelerated.

With this new knowledge and vision of what I was doing, I planned the irrigation system and prepared the cedar posts and wires that would one day support my vines and grapes.  A little research told me that I couldn’t plant grapevines until next spring and so it was my intention to have everything in place and ready before winter.

Vision is a wonderful thing.  When you know where you want to end up, the journey to get there becomes easier. Obstacles and distractions don’t so easily lure you down the many rabbit trails of life that often lead  to deadends.  Vision empowers people to overcome struggles and crises.  When you know where you’re going in life money is spent more efficiently and energy is expended on the right things.  There is no question that vision is a great gift, but until you get it sometimes its best to do what you can in the interim, looking for vision along the way.