Vision: A Holy Habitation

This is the seventh post in a series on personal vision.  

To read the previous posts in this series, 

check out "Vision" in the topics over to the left.

I thought through many questions that try to get at who I am and what I'm all about - who I'm created to me, what I'm created to do, what I'm passionate about, what I love to do, and what is at the core of my being.  The answers are different for everyone but we do hold some of them in common with those around us. At the end of that exercise, I mulled over an enduring and guiding principle that would help me to focus my activities and goals.  This is what I ended up with back in 2004 and it still holds true today:

"To become a holy habitation -

to Dwell in God that He may dwell in me."

Psalm 71:3a says, "Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come."  I want to cultivate my heart, home, and life to be a place where God will be pleased to abide.  In nature, certain habitats support the life of certain types of plants and animals.  The colorful red-eyed tree frog thrives in the rain forest, but would quickly die in the desert. If I want to have a red-eyed tree frog as a pet, I need to create an environment that will be conducive to life for the frog.  The poor little guy will not live if I just dump him in an empty aquarium and leave him there.  I need to cultivate the correct habitat so that he will live.  Hopefully, I'll even go further to create the environment where he will thrive! 

If I want particular mindsets and behaviors to thrive in my environment, then I have to cultivate a specific habitat so that those things will grow.  Activities or supplies have to be eliminated or enhanced.  It takes discipline and frequent reminders to keep me on track.  We are such forgetful people.  This is why I even started this topic - to help us stay on track cultivating the life we want to have and not taking the one handed to us by our default human nature.

To stand the test, my vision statement should be able to be the answer for all the whys of what I do.  Why do I read scripture? To be a holy habitation. Why do I homeschool? Because I believe this allows for more discussions that lead to encouraging us to be a holy habitation. Why do I make time to see friends? Because being in community with other believers encourages me (and them) to be a holy habitation. Why do I go to work? Because it is part of God's provision for me and I do it in obedience to him which contributes to becoming a holy habitation.  Why do I play "Candy Crush"? Well... umm..... 

To say it more simply, I want all my activities to contribute to the habitat I want to create in my life.  This should coincide with my vision and be in line with my values. 

Values flow out of vision and I'll discuss them next week. Let me know what you think about my vision statement and please share yours with me.  I'd love to hear it!