Our family visited Walden Pond near Boston many years ago. It is where the author and idealist Henry David Thoreau lived and wrote his book Walden Pond.

In 1845 Thoreau went into the woods and for over two years existed in almost complete solitude. He wanted to simplify his lifestyle and become more in tune with nature. He kept a detailed journal and later this account of his experiences was published as the book Walden Pond.

It was an acclaimed best seller and is considered a classic piece of American literature. Today all that remains of Thoreau's little cabin is a pile of rocks and a modest wooden sign with a quote from his book.

Thoreau was motivated to go and live in the woods because he was worried about America's future. He was dismayed by the growing commercialism he saw all around him and thought the only hope for his country lay in a return to a more basic lifestyle.

A tradition among visitors to the Walden Pond site is to write their hopes for the future on one of the rocks on the pile where Thoreau's cabin stood. Legend has it those wishes will be washed into Walden Pond by the rain and will eventually come true. Each member of our family tried to imagine the future by writing our dreams and wishes on one of the Walden Pond rocks.

I was reminded of that day at Walden Pond this week because we had meetings at our school where those of us in leadership positions were brought together to envision the future of our school. What did we think our school would or should be like in 10 years or in 20?

Lifestyle coach Stephen Covey, who came up with those famous seven habits guaranteed to make us successful, says we must 'begin with the end in mind' if we want to have lives of meaning and value. We decide what we want to achieve in the future and it helps us plan our present. I don't know if I completely agree.

I had trouble imagining the future during our envisioning exercise at work this week. How can we predict the future of our school when we consider the dizzy pace at which technology is changing our lives and relationships? Who knows what 'school' will look like in 10 years. Will it even be in a building? Will we have textbooks? Will teachers be virtual images on a screen?

Will international students spend their time in various school sites around the globe as they learn? I don't know if Covey is right. I don't think we can begin with the end in mind. Can we even begin to envision where our rapidly changing world will take us?

My grandmother once told me that gypsies used to camp just outside the village where she grew up in the former Soviet Union. If you gave them a watermelon they would tell you what the future held in store for you. Grandma told me she never gave the gypsies a watermelon because she had no desire to know her future. What a wise woman.

I didn't find it hard to imagine what I wanted to happen in my future—that long ago day at Walden Pond. I wrote lots of exciting plans on my rock. I have to admit that the wishes I penned at Walden Pond still have not come true. The dreams I had for my future haven't been realized but I'm really not that disappointed.

I think the future I've been granted has turned out to be every bit as good as the one I imagined. Jesus said in the book of Matthew that we should let 'tomorrow'—the future—take care of itself. What a wise man.