Our Collective Mission and Vision
Many times I have heard influential leaders speak about the necessity of a mission and a vision for our lives.
Tomorrow, I am giving a persuasive talk during Toastmaster’s District 53’s Jan Jam of talented leaders and communicators that are emerging from their shells and are polishing up their presence.
I feel that communication develops you and provides for you an excellent foundation with which to operate your lives.
I go back to May 25th, 1961 when President John F. Kennedy challenged America to reach for the stars and the moon by the end of the decade. Not only to stay competitive with the world in terms of space exploration but also to prevent us from staying within our realms of mediocrity.
During President Kennedy’s initial challenge, the scaffolding of NASA had to be re-engineered and strengthened. Manuals of how to train this future breed of American astronauts had to be developed.
Much had to get done.
Bravery had to become one of the coined terms and catchwords at the time.
Heading to the moon has been a fascination for me throughout my life.
During story times, there was the great classic of Goodnight Moon!!
During one of the initial launches to the moon, our family watched the progress of the mission to the moon as we vacationed along the Southold shores of Long Island.
And even when I was a young man in his twenties, I witnessed my first lunar eclipse from the living room of our cottage along the Maine coast.
I expected something dramatic to unfold so I made the living room my base of operations for about 3 hours and faithfully pulled the curtains and craned my neck to look up at the night sky.
I saw the gradual darkening of the moon and then expected a dramatic unveiling.
Only, this did not occur and after about 3 hours of quietly dancing to my expectations, I let nature play out its dance without me.
The next morning I expressed my disappointment with Mom and Dad and how I wanted this to be a dramatic experience of viewing my first eclipse. Only to leave with a different result.
Let’s just take a moment and reflect.
Are there times that you are disappointed when something does not go your way in life?
I learned that I can still enjoy the presence of being around the moon and appreciate and contemplate its reflections as it dances across the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet, who is its dance partner?
This moon that I looked up at danced with the sun each day as it created the wonderful tidal flows that we watched during the days in our rented cottages along the shores of Maine.
Something bright and stellar and something that beautifully reflected what it saw from the other.
Thus the earth is its palate which creates the wonderful experiences we speak of from our childhood to the years as astronauts or observers from our living rooms.
Our family always looked at the tidal charts which graced the walls of our summer cottages.
Looking for that opportune time to go on our motorboat as we plied the Sheepscot River. As the Sheepscot River interacted with the Atlantic. I want to challenge each of you to look for something that you can stretch yourselves toward.
In this series of thoughts about faith this month, having a vision and mission for your life does require a great deal of faith.
In order to execute a mission, one has to be prepared to face a certain degree of headaches and challenges.
There is much to be accomplished from that initial dream to actually being strapped into the rocket as you travel to the moon someday.
So remember 10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1….Take off!
Keep persevering between each one of those seconds of the countdown.
BE PREPARED FOR A WONDERFUL JOURNEY!!!
And I hope to see you travelling high above me as you make wonderful discoveries.
Isn’t that the true essence of our lives?
Please feel free to share your mission and vision for your lives and what you have discovered along the way.
And how this all ties to this month’s theme of faith.
Thank you.
Scott R. Davis
Your Chief Encouraging Officer of Life (C.E.O.O.L)
Writers Unlimited 