"Your Best Year Ever" Pt. 3

“Are you willing to sacrifice whatever is needed to achieve your goal? If not, don’t try. But if you willing, well then: Go! Start making your year the best!”

When Michigan State Football’s Head Coach, Mark Dantonio, traveled to California in May of 2013 he carried with him a goal. He wanted to take his team to the January 2014 Rose Bowl in Pasadena California.  So, being a  Big Ten football coach he found a way to get onto the Rose Bowl field where he stood, alone, forming a picture in his mind. He imagined what it would be like to be standing in that very place on January 1 as the victorious head coach surrounded by his green and white clad team.  As history would have it, that is exactly what happened. For the first time since 1987 the Michigan State football team achieved its annual goal…appear in and win the Rose Bowl.

Now, could the visualization of the coach, who, let’s face it, doesn’t even play in any of the games, make the vision come true?  I think so.  I think that what the leader of any organization, whether it is a football program, a fast food restaurant or a family unit, what that that leader dreams about makes a difference for the entire organization.  The leader’s job is to impart to the “team” the leader’s vision for the “team.”  The second step is to help them adopt that vision as their own, and to then help them take the steps needed to make the vision, the dream, a reality.  Without that last step, of course, the vision is without meaning. It is a mere fairy tale without the commitment to do what is needed to make the dream come true.  If the Michigan State football players adopted the vision and then spent the football season playing only video football then the only Rose Bowl they would be playing is the one on a video game.  Making dreams come true, whatever they are, requires a vision that for you is rational; a dream that you will write down and keep before you until achieved; and it is one that you will work at with intensity and commitment until achieved.  That’s how you make 2014 your best year.

The prophet Joel’s most famous words are “your young men will see visions and your old men dream dreams.” (Joel 2:28)  You see, God gives us visions and dreams.  God even helps to make those visions and dreams a reality.  But, we have a role in the reality-making process. This is what makes life worth living. It is what makes life fun.  Whatever your goal is for 2014, visualize it right now.  Ask God to confirm that this vision is “of God” and then ask God to stand in that dream with you and to make it real.