2020 Vision

“Perfect! Just excellent!” So was the assessment of the doctor after my recent annual eye exam. His remarks referred primarily to the outcome of Lasik surgery I had a couple years ago. “I’ve never seen a better outcome,” he said. He gave my cornea and eye health a hearty two thumbs up.

Even better, I have 20/20 distance vision—exactly what I’d hoped for with the Lasik surgery. Prior to the surgery, everything beyond ten feet was a blur. I couldn’t safely drive without my glasses. One of the reasons for the surgery concerned my love for the outdoors, and especially hiking/backpacking. I knew if I were out on a multi-day hike and broke my glasses, I’d be in serious trouble. Also, I’d tried contacts and couldn’t deal with them at all. So, the laser beam sliced my corneas and I now have 20/20 vision without glasses. Perfect. Well, almost. I still need glasses to read.

The recent experience at the eye doctor perhaps made me a bit sensitive, but I’ve noticed quite a few different organizations keying off the new year and talking about having—or wanting to have—20/20 vision for what lies ahead. If only.

I get the sentiment, and since the new year is 2020, we’re afforded a ready-made slogan for goal setting and “vision casting.” I’m wondering if it’ll get worn out soon, though. Nevertheless, the sloganeers seem confident that their crystal-clear vision will be played out over the next twelve months. Perhaps, but not likely.

How many times have I looked forward to a new year, envisioned where I wanted to be personally or where I wanted to lead the church I serve, and written out a series of goals necessary to take me/us there. At the end of the year, I look around and it’s not what I’d envisioned. Sometimes in an area or two, it’s better. Sometimes, actually worse! But in most cases, while there may be some progress toward what I saw, there’s a long way to go. Often, the goal or vision disappears from sight.

Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not opposed to looking ahead, envisioning a certain future, and setting goals to get there. I’ve recently written some book musings on the subject and am in the goal-setting process as I write. I just think it’s a bit presumptuous to say I see that future with 20/20 vision.

A more accurate way of describing the path ahead would be something like hiking along a trail without my glasses prior to Lasik. Quite a blur. I can see the general direction I should be going; I have an idea of what my destination is supposed to look like. But that’s about it. I’ll likely get sidetracked along the way. The destination may not be anything like I’d imagined.

And who knows what might stop me from moving forward altogether. Did you read about the 28-year-old man from Minnesota who went for a hike in Muir Woods near San Francisco? He headed out on Christmas Eve, surely with a clear vision of the destination in mind. But tragically a massive redwood tree fell and ended his hike…and his life! A year ago, another hiker near Mt. Hood was enjoying her trek until a cougar attacked. She never reached her intended destination, but went to her eternal one instead.

I think you get the point. We do need to get a vision for what we want our lives to look like, and it’s profitable to consider every aspect: physical fitness, diet, marriage, parenting, vocation, spiritual growth, finances, and so on. We will profit greatly from setting goals in an effort to bring that vision into reality. BUT we must do so humbly and tenuously.

In his God-given wisdom, King Solomon, looking at life in this fallen world, made some interesting observations in this regard:

There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous….(Ecclesiastes 8:14, ESV)

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11, ESV)

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. (Ecclesiastes 11:5–6, ESV)

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9, ESV)  

But lest anyone conclude he’s calling for a fatalistic approach to life, Solomon later writes,

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5, ESV)

In short, Solomon’s advice forms the basis for mine. Envision, set goals, plan, work the plan…but realize a sovereign God in His infinite wisdom ultimately determines the outcome. What you see so clearly in January may not look much like the reality of December!

James echoes this counsel:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13–15, ESV)

And Paul explains why:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV)

20/20 vision will be finally achieved only when we come face to face with the Great Physician. His surgery will remove all fuzzy, cloudy vision. Until then, the path ahead blurs before us and demands we walk by faith in the One who sees perfectly the end from the beginning—and every step along the way.