January 1992 doesn't seem like the beginning of just another new year. Remarkable events have been occurring throughout the world. Democracy is setting deeper roots in the Americas, in Eastern Europe, in the republics that had constituted the Soviet Union. Yet there's profound uneasiness as people realize more fully that forming and reforming nations is like individual reformation—easier to conceive than to carry through to completion.
Vision is needed, spiritual vision that goes much further than discontent with the past. In a handful of poignant words the Bible states what has become clear: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Prov. 29:18. Whether one is making a home for a family, actively at work for church, or building a new nation with democratic foundations and firm resolve to honor human rights, people need vision, a clear idea of where they're headed.
Yet what are we to do when the distance and challenge of the journey threaten to overwhelm resolve and resources? A man who recently lost his home in a flood wrote with courageous humor that comes from more than a little spiritual vision: "I felt I had come to the end of my rope. I had no choice but to tie a knot at the end and hold on."
