Milk and Honey Day 4: Stewarding the Vision

Yesterday I talked about testing a spiritual impression and discerning whether something is actually from God. But after that comes the long part: figuring out what you were actually shown and what to do with it.

Because most things are not instantly understood.

At least not for me.

This wheat field collection has taken years. Looking back now, I can see how long it has actually been building beneath the surface. I can see how different Bible studies, prayer seasons, dreams, journal entries, visual ideas, and even technical art skills I was learning years ago were all slowly converging into the same language without me fully realizing it at the time.

That’s part of why I think it’s important to document things.

Not everything makes sense immediately. Sometimes you only recognize the pattern years later when enough pieces have accumulated beside each other.

When I first started getting imagery connected to wheat fields, I wrote down the initial impressions and thoughts attached to it. Then over time I kept adding to it as more things connected. My journals are full of entries called things like “Wheat #2” or “Wheat #6.” I do that because otherwise I lose the thread completely. My brain moves too fast and life gets noisy.

Sometimes documenting looks like journaling. Sometimes sketching. Sometimes rough oil pastel drawings because oil pastels are immediate and let me get the idea onto paper quickly before I start overthinking it or forgetting details. Most of those sketches are messy. Some barely make sense to anyone except me. But they preserve the thought long enough for me to come back to it later.

Original Vision Painting “Promise of Gold” ©BekHarris Art 2021. 16×20 Oil pastel on Canson Mi Tienes paper

Then I start pulling on threads.

If a verse comes to mind, I write it down. If a Bible story connects, I study it more deeply. If a symbol repeats itself over and over again, I pay attention to where and when it keeps surfacing.

I also do a lot of association work. Sometimes I’ll put one word in the center of a page and just start branching outward with every connected thought, Scripture, emotion, memory, color, image, or theme that comes to mind. Not because every association is spiritually profound, but because patterns start emerging when you stop trying to force everything into neat conclusions too quickly.

Free association brain map

And honestly, I think people sometimes approach symbolism way too rigidly. Context matters. Your actual life matters. Your history matters. Two people can dream about the same thing and have it mean something entirely different.

The deeper understanding usually comes slowly through prayer, study, time, repetition, and watching how themes continue unfolding in real life.

And I think that’s part of stewardship too.

Not just receiving something meaningful, but staying with it long enough to develop it into something useful, truthful, and grounded instead of chasing emotional moments and calling it depth.

This process is also why I created my dream workbook and journal. It breaks down how I personally work through dreams, visions, symbolism, and spiritual impressions and helps other people start understanding their own more intentionally too. Because I genuinely believe dreams matter and that God uses them far more often than most people realize.

You can find it here:
Dream Workbook + Journal