01 Sep Blueprint – Sept 13

By Firman Rianto

This article exists to give its reader the urgency of having a vision for their life. That is the end in mind of this article.

The reader would have missed this intention if they are having no mental image of the future, no envisioning of their family’s future state—to just let life happen, to be swept along with the flow of society’s values and trends without having any sense of vision or purpose. Simply living out the scripts that have been given to them. It’s really not living at all; it’s being lived.

As it says in the saying of the wise, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.” We are living in the days where there are times of difficulty because people are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

One does not have to look very far to see such circumstances unfold. Pop culture with its sneakiness like a snake is educating you, your wife, your teenager, or even your five-year-old to let loose, casting off restraint through their power of media. Porn, brutality, dishonour,  and foul languages have become mainstream in advertisement, movies, and TV shows.

Please pause because this writer is not encouraging you to burn your television, magazines, or whatever media you have at your disposal. He is asking you to set a clear, compelling vision for yourself, your wife, your teenager, and your five-year-old.

Having a vision would mean having your (and their) destination clearly in mind and that vision affecting every decision along the way.

Would it really be that simple? Yes, vision is powerful! It’s having a vision that enables prisoners of war to survive. It’s what gives successful children the drive to succeed. Vision is greater than “baggage”—negative experiences of the past and even the accumulated ones of the present. Tapping into this sense of vision gives you the power and the purpose to rise above your difficult situation and act based on what really matters most. It also gives you drive to continue after you were given a well-deserved rest.

All things are created twice. First comes the idea or the mental image, then comes the reality or the physical creation. It’s drafting the blueprint before constructing the building, writing the script before performing the play, creating the flight plan before taking off in the airplane. It’s like the carpenter’s rule: “Measure twice, cut once.”

Having a vision is deciding what kind of family you really want to be and identifying the principles that will help you get there. And that decision will give context to every other decision you make. It will become your destination. It will act like a huge, powerful magnet that draws you toward it and helps you stay on track.