#UnBlockYourself 424: abiding in the vine of your vision
““I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”
John 15:5-8 MSG
Applying this to our vision, it has to be a living breathing thing we set out to embrace and have dwell within us. When it is living within us, and it also is something that we are living by, we bear fruit. We start to see results. If there is a gap in the results from all of our efforts or non-efforts we’re putting into it, we may have to check if we have strayed or completely separated from the vision given.
Side Note - If this is a God-given vision for our life, we have to also make sure we do not stray or separate from God AND the Vision alike. We may see results, and they may seem good, but ultimately can lead us down a path where we end up worshipping the created, rather than the creator. The problem God was having with people was that they would start to prosper, and then forget the mission, vision, where it came from, and what it was for. Be careful!
Along these same lines, if there are somethings that are being used to create your vision, or fulfill your mission, and they are not producing fruit for you, you may have to evaluate them to see if they have become dead wood that needs to be pruned. Pruning cuts off less than useful things and allows for the energy from it to be diverted to the more useful areas, causing growth. Consider these things as you work out your ikigai!