Every year, I take my children to have their vision checked.

One of my daughters has exceptionally poor vision, especially for an athlete. It was not always poor. When she first started to play soccer, she was quite a force to be reckoned with. But as time went on, her amount of almost-but-not-quite goals mysteriously began to pile up. The mystery was solved, however, when I took her to an annual vision appointment and found out—sure enough—her vision had deteriorated to 20/300.

The problem was simple: She couldn’t see the goal.

What about you? As a leader who sets the course for the center, how good is your vision? Has it deteriorated over time? How do you, as a leader—a forward, if you will—keep the vision alive and clear enough to hit the mark accurately?

Let’s take a page from a leader’s playbook. That leader is Caleb, one of the twelve spies sent into the Promised Land, and one of only two who lived to enter it. God describes Caleb in Numbers 14:24 as someone who “has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly,” and because of that, God promised to bring him back one day as a full-time resident.

It would be 40 years from the time he first laid eyes on this land that flowed with milk and honey to the time Caleb would finally cross the Jordan for good.

Forty years. That is a long time to wait for fulfillment of a promise. It was long enough for Caleb to see every single one of his peers grow old and die in the wilderness while the consequences of Israel’s unbelief took its toll.

How easy would it have been for Caleb to have lost sight of his vision? How easy to simply forget how beautiful that first glance was.

Yet, 45 years after he first saw the land, the last five of which had been spent conquering it, Caleb declared: 

Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. (Joshua 14:10-12)

This old man had energy. He had passion. Caleb had vitality. He was not daunted by his age, by time, or by difficult experiences. What is it that kept his passion, energy and focus alive for 40 years? I believe it was Caleb’s vision.

Caleb’s vision was big. He had a grand vision for something that was not yet in his or Israel’s possession. The Promised Land was exactly that…it was promised. It was the land that God had promised to Moses at the Burning Bush, the same land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so many generations before.

But the land was not yet in their physical possession. Faith was still involved. Trusting in the promise of God was still required.

Forty-five years before, Moses dispatched a band of 12 spies on a reconnaissance mission to the land of Caanan. When they returned after 40 days, they had all seen the same things, but 10 of the spies’ reports were so clouded and marred by fear that they brought a “bad report” about the land.

Convinced that God was able to do what He’d promised, Caleb reported what he’d seen: a land flowing with milk and honey; inhabitants who would be easily conquered; clusters of grapes so large that he and the other spies needed a pole to carry them on. Caleb now had a vision for something that was so grand and so beautiful that he could not—and did not—forget it. Simply put, what Caleb saw amazed him.

For the next 40 years, as the Israelites wandered in the desert, craving water at times, meat at other times, Caleb listened to their whining and the complaining. He witnessed the rebellion of Korah, watching the earth swallow up Korah’s entire family. Caleb saw the plague of fiery serpents go out from the word of God among the people of Israel. He saw and participated in many battles, some victories and defeats.

Even as he and Joshua—the other faithful spy—witnessed every person of their generation die in the wilderness, Caleb kept the vision before him.

You too have a vision for your center. Are you able to remember it? Does it ignite your passion today as much as it did on the first day it was articulated? If not, ask yourself three questions:

1. Is your vision still big? Is your vision as grand as the day you first saw it? Is the vision still bigger than you? In their 1994 book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, James Collins and Jerry Porras introduced the term, “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG). The BHAG is a vision that, even internally, seems impossible to achieve, yet excites and ignites people to action.

2. Are you continuing to move forward to see the vision through? Election results, financial floundering, staff issues, or personal hurdles need to be overcome. Are you willing to overcome them? Consider Caleb, who kept pressing forward with the vision, despite all odds, despite all obstacles.

3. Are you trusting God to do what He promises? Caleb knew he couldn’t go into the Promised Land and take it based on his own strength. Instead, he says, “the LORD helping me” (Joshua 14:12). Caleb knew that only through God could he and the people drive out the enemies and take the hill country. 

No leader can rely on personal passion, strength, energy, and clarity alone to see a truly inspiring vision fulfilled. God alone can, and will, fulfill His promise through a willing, passionate, focused, and humble leader who actively nurtures and fuels his or her vision.