By Patricia Mikkelson

This is a vision, written as though it has already come true. I pray it every morning, and I believe that writing it this way helps call it into being.

I’m sitting at the old wooden table in Living Springs Log House, the one that matches the trim so perfectly, and I can hardly believe how far we’ve come.

It started with one buyer. They found our videos and read our blog at http://www.livingspringsloghouse.com, and something stirred in them. They saw what Barbara and I had seen all along: that these 14.75 acres in the Ozark hills were meant to be a beginning of something amazing.

They didn’t need to fly out first. They said, “We see it all. We trust it. Let’s get this done.” And they came with understanding hearts, ready to help everyone here make their transition with kindness. From the very first day, they knew why they had bought this place. They wanted it to be the central gathering place for a movement.

The First Think Tank

It began around this same table. A handful of vegans sat together, prayed together, ate simple food from the gardens, and asked one question: How can we help every animal rights group thrive? And another question: How can we help the whole world become vegan?

That was the first think tank. It wasn’t fancy. It was people who cared deeply, sitting in a sturdy, well-insulated house in the woods, sharing ideas and actually listening to each other.

What made it different was the spirit of it. Nobody was competing. Nobody was trying to make their own group the biggest or the loudest. Every group, whether it reached Christians, athletes, students, farmers or anyone else, was welcomed and strengthened so it could reach its own people in its own way.

A Sanctuary and a Land Trust

The land itself became part of the message. The rescued animals came first. Now cows, goats, chickens and pigs live out their lives in peace on these hills, and visitors who meet them understand in a moment what no pamphlet could ever teach.

The buyers placed the land in a community land trust, so it will never again be used to harm an animal. It belongs to the mission now, for generations.

The gardens I tended for nine years, the ones Chris and Lanae helped save, feed the people who come here. Everyone who visits eats food grown right here on the property, and learns that a compassionate life can also be a simple, healthy, local one.

No Vegan Left Behind

One of the first things the think tank tackled was loneliness. So many vegans felt isolated, the only one in their family, their church, their town. That loneliness wore people down. Some gave up.

So we made a promise: no vegan left behind, no vegan alone.

Every person working for the animals is now connected to a support person, a buddy, a true friend, the way Barbara and I have been for each other. A vegan connecting network helps people find each other as friends, as roommates, as people to live in community with, and even as marriage partners. Nobody has to walk this road by themselves anymore.

Vegan Co-Living Homes Everywhere

From Living Springs Log House, the idea spread. Vegan co-living homes opened across the country, and then around the world. Each one gives people an affordable, loving place to live, and each one brings in enough income to sustain itself and help start the next.

And each co-living home has its own small think tank. People gather around their own kitchen tables and ask the same question we asked here: How can we help the world become more compassionate?

The Super Think Tank

Here is the part that still amazes me. All those little think tanks are connected to each other. An idea that works in one home is shared with all the others. A problem one group is struggling with gets help from people who already solved it somewhere else.

Together they form one giant think tank, a super think tank, all of us pouring our energy and our gifts into the same purpose.

We also use AI aka superintelligence for good. AI can connect to every bit of information out there, but it needs us to keep learning and growing so it has something new to learn from. So the people bring the heart, the wisdom and the fresh ideas, and the technology helps carry those ideas everywhere at once. Our intelligence and that superintelligence work together toward a world where compassion is the normal way to live.

Vegans of Light

Every vegan in this network is encouraged to reach their fullest potential. People who once felt burned out, discouraged or alone now feel supported and strong. They have found their purpose and their people. They have become vegans of light, shining wherever they go.

And because they are strong, they can help others become strong too. That is how it keeps growing.

This all led to alliances and cooperation with every group and individual promoting compassion and care for the earth and all of life, including environmental groups and prolife groups. Really, we all are working towards the same goal of a world where all of life thrives. It’s just that some forget to include the animals.

Where It All Leads

I believe with all my heart that someday the earth will be restored. The animals will live in peace with each other and with us. Nobody will eat animals. People will reconcile with one another, and it will be so beautiful.

God doesn’t force that day on us. He invites us to help bring it. Every think tank, every co-living home, every rescued animal, every lonely vegan who finds a friend is a small step toward that new earth.

And it all started here, in a house in the Ozark hills, with a buyer who saw what this place could be.

A Prayer

Thank You, God, for big dreams. Thank You for this house, for the land, for the animals and for every person who has been part of this story. Thank You for the buyer who saw the vision and said yes. Let this dream keep pulling us toward You, because we know we can only make it real by staying close to You.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

How We Wrote This Together

This vision began as a spoken prayer and reflection. Patricia Mikkelson, a resident of the Living Springs Log House, talked through the vision she prays over each morning, and Claude.ai, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, helped gather her words into sections and a flowing story while keeping her meaning and her faith at the center. The picture at the top was also made with AI, to show the vision of circles spreading out from this one house to homes all over the world.

A Few Insights

• Writing a vision as if it has already happened turns a hope into something you can picture, pray over and work toward.
• The heart of this vision is connection, not size. A think tank of two or three people around a kitchen table counts just as much as a big one.
• Loneliness wears people down, so friendship isn’t extra to the work for animals. It is part of the work.
• The vision grows the way friendship grows: one home, one table, one connection at a time.

To see the property that inspired this vision, visit www.livingspringsloghouse.com

Credit: Written with the help of Claude.ai, an AI assistant made by Anthropic. The illustration was created with AI.