Working without vision can leave you with a jacked up crapper and a pissed off wife. Trust me on this one.

About a year ago, I set out with a crowbar, a sledgehammer, and an idea. What a nasty recipe. I knocked out some sheet rock, removed a few studs, and created a fine mess. The next weekend I walked into the bathroom and fiddled with a few things, but I knew and the bathroom knew that I didn’t have the vision to complete the project.

Worked piled up and the thought of the bathroom slipped out of my mind. I had torn the walls out of the bathroom and erected walls around the project in my mind. Over the course of the next year, we had several contractors estimate the work, but we never arrived at the “vision” of the project.

Vision is more than just a design. Vision is peering into the abyss of possibility and plucking out something that can be. Vision is imagining the impossible and being able to articulate what it looks like to others.

Vision is creative and spiritual. The act of creating is divine. Humans ultimately wither and our handiwork ultimately crumbles, but staring into that which is broken and commanding something beautiful is other worldly.

Victories are rich. Seeing that thing appear in real life that was only imagined is satisfying and empowering.

Not having vision can be problematic.

Setbacks are catastrophic. When you come across a snag and you have no vision, the obstacles become insurmountable roadblocks.

Endurance. What is the difference in running 5 miles and a marathon? Endurance. You run 5 miles for exercise. You run marathons to make a point. You have to have vision to run a marathon, or you will bail at the half way point. Vision is the fuel to see it through to the end.

Where there is no vision, the people perish… -Proverbs 29: 18

For the bathroom, it took about 8 weeks of hard work every weekend, but once I had vision I was able to see the project through to the end. Ultimately, we ended up with a nice bathroom, and my wife forgave me.