What is vision really? Vision – the ability to turn what is into what can be – is what separates godly families from godly legacies.

If vision is so crucial, though, why is it so hard to understand and even harder to pass down? And if companies can have a vision, why can’t families? Why can’t families also articulate why they exist, where they want to go, and, most importantly, who they want to become? The truth is that they can. And so can your family . . . if you’ll become a visionary family.

Visionary families

My dear friend, Dianna Booher, says: “It’s difficult to lead people to a place they cannot see, to an understanding you yourself do not have, or to a goal you cannot communicate.” And nowhere does this apply more than at home. How well do you understand and communicate your family vision? Does your family know? More importantly, do you know where you want to lead your family?

Your kids don’t need you to be a vision guru; they just need you to know who they are and who they can be . . . how to envision their possibilities and make them a reality . . . and, most importantly, how to lead them to want to be visionary. Being visionary, though, isn’t for the ultra-intelligent; it’s for the ultra-intentional. And anyone, including you, can be intentional.

There are many great “V” character qualities, but if you want valor, vibrancy, and vulnerability to flow from your kids, they need you to be a forward-thinker, not a past-lamenter. A visualizer of what can be, not a victim of what’s always been. They need you to be a role model of one of the greatest of all character qualities: visionary – the horizon of character.

Visionary:  The horizon of character

If it’s true that everything rises and falls on leadership, then leadership rises and falls on vision. Vision sees across the horizon of time – yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But it also sees the person. This kind of vision is possible because it comes from God whose vision spans the horizon of your life. He created you in His own image, redeems you today when you fail, and promises you an eternity with Him in heaven.

Every family vision is unique because God created every family to be unique. Next week’s secret sauce blog (W – Well done) describes my family’s vision, but here are three elements common for family visions that you might consider in articulating, modeling, and communicating yours: Character, Excellence, and Faithfulness.

A vision of character

If you can envision and articulate one quality in your kids, make it their character. As a young dad, I focused my attention on my kids’ behavior, but later realized how wrong I was. I had to learn the hard way that behavior flows from habits, and habits flow from choices, and choices flow from character. I had to gain a vision of my kids’ character so that I could better highlight it, celebrate it, and get it back on track when it veered off. And I had to begin seeing my kids for who they could become if they’d let God align their want-to with His will.

A vision of excellence

Character makes everything possible, but character without excellence is disappointing at the least and disheartening at the worst. Imagine, just imagine, your kids twenty or thirty years from now if the quality of their hearts intersected the quality of their habits like two targets on top of each other. The challenge is to not do what’s natural. Don’t try to force it, fight it, or figure it all out. Instead, study your kids. Gaze at the giftedness that God intends for His glory. And become “fluent” in your kids’ abilities so that they can become exceptional, not the exception.

A vision of faithfulness

According to George Barna, we’re all in “the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing . . . to passionately and strategically pursue a vision from God that a (family) jointly embraces.” What’s your family vision? Does it begin with the end in mind? Does it focus on the one thing that truly matters – hearing, “Well done” from God and family?

You may express it differently, but are you unleashing and enlivening your family’s character, excellence, and faithfulness? If you will, you’ll become a visionary who turns what is into what can be for generations and generations and generations to come.

What’s your “V” character quality?

The “V” of your 26 A-to-Z Secret Sauce of character qualities could be: Validating, Valor, Values, Versatile, Vibrant, Vigorous, Virtuous, Visionary, Vitalize, Vivid, Vulnerable, or more. Click here for a Free Printable Workbook, instructions, and 300 sample character qualities to choose from.

Questions: What vision are you casting for your family, and could they describe it? What “V” word describes the character you want for your family, and why?