As I listened to the Word, the preacher shared the analogy of an ant who lived in a community of other ants. This specific ant refused to associate with other members of its community, and as such, they also neglected it and labored in preparation for the dry season. The dry season eventually came around, and all the ants in the community managed to survive on the food they gathered. They had planned in cohesion, and had enough to sustain themselves until they were able to work again. This lonely ant was not able to gather enough food by itself, and as expected, died young from hunger.
The reason why this story has remained so close to my heart seven years later is because I’ve always likened the ant to my personal vision. We’ve all been blessed with the ability to one day discover and honor our personal visions, to be inspired by what we stumble upon, and to take a step forward towards bringing our respective visions to majestic fruition. However, time and time again, this vision grows lonely as it’s secluded from positive forces that could sustain it, nurture it, and breathe joy into it. As such, this vision fails to embrace the required lens needed to capture the hearts of those we are placed here to serve.
Without fail, most of our personal visions never see the light, and ends up dissipating into another dream that hunts our souls for eternity. It’s no coincidence that the wealthiest place in the world is not in the South African mines or Middle East oil rigs. The wealthiest place in the world is in the graveyard, where personal visions that could have manifested into businesses, novels, movies, paintings are buried. Personal visions are meant to be acted upon, and our role as chosen actors is to engage others to work with us in fulfilling God’s promise for all. It’s easy to look up in the Universe and feel too small to drive your personal vision forward. But hey, you also need to remember that you are big because you are connected to the Universe, which amasses billions of people, and the Universe is connected to you.