We all have them. Some are pipe dreams. Growing up in LA in the 80s, the daughter of a die-hard Lakers fan, I just knew that I would someday be a Laker girl. I'm pretty sure that the squad wouldn't have been able to find a spot for me if I had paid them a whole lot of money. My adult version of the pipe dream? A one acre lot it the city with a 2000 square foot Tuscan, no Craftsman, no Cape Cod, no Bungalow, no Spanish style home with a huge pool and a gourmet kitchen with two stoves and two ovens. Not that I've been thinking about it, or anything. And of course we all have those nonsensical nighttime dreams. But I've never quite figured out the significance of my first-quarter-of-second-grade-best-friend showing up at my high school while I'm there with my husband and we're all doing the limbo for my boss' birthday. Hmmm...
But then there are those quiet dreams. The ones we almost want to ignore. The ones that whisper to us from the depths of our soul. We talk about God's promise to give us the desires of our hearts. But we think it's the house. Wrong! Not that the house is a bad thing. Did you hear that, God? A house like that is what Martha might call "a good thing." Anyway, I'm talking about dreams like: the ministry you want to work with. The kind of people you'd like to disciple. The lessons you want to teach your children. The marriage building you want to do with your husband. The people you want to reach.
Those aren't an accident. They aren't pipe dreams. They're bigger, more life-changing, and scarier. Our heart would ache if we pursued and failed. But the great thing about quiet God-dreams is that our Creator placed them there. He longs to see them fulfilled. Not that everything will be peachy, but our God wants to see that we have the chance to get on that path. He wants our dreams to come true because he wants to use us. I'm starting to walk in mine right now, volunteering for a ministry that has been near to my heart, quietly whispering for some time. And it's so much better than a house. With a pool. And my kitchen. I may never get my house, but I will be used by God and I will fulfill the purpose for which I was created by doing the good works he has set aside for me. So if you haven't started already, go chase your quiet dreams! I'm sure many a closed door awaits us, and maybe some slammed doors. But, if these dreams were put there by One who wants to see them come true, what do we have to do but to chase them with wild abandon?
But before you do, I'm curious: do you have any quiet God-dreams? Are you pursuing them? Are you in the waiting period? Are you living them out daily? I'd love to hear your stories and be encouraged by you.
1 comment:
Oh my sweet friend- if you only knew the rusty cogs turning in my heart because of your obedience to God to follow the dreams that he has set before you. My dreams are big, and exciting, and terrifying. So terrifying that the idea of running after them with wild abandon brings me to tears of fear and self doubt- ah but he put those dreams in there you say? Well there's the rub- I've no choice but to pursue them as if my heart depended on it- which I think it might. In stepping forward on the path to your dream you have kicked me out of my complacency- thank you. When I have the courage to take that first step- well you'll be the first to know what it is, (okay second- but Mr Handsome hardly counts as he is really just the other half of me). The Bible says the in HIS presence is fullness of joy and I do think that perhaps he gives us a taste of that joy on the path to chasing the dreams he has set before us. Kind of like telling on yourself when you're little- the relief that floods your heart at answering his call so outweighs the ache of struggling down the path.
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