Of the human experience, one of the saddest realities is the adult who never achieves his or her dreams. Statistics reveal this description fits eight out of ten of us. Perhaps even sadder is the fact that most of this eighty percent won’t even remember as adults the dreams they imagined as children. That’s a disheartening stat for a dreamer.
Our childhood dreams are clues to the destiny God has for each of us. Yes, I believe those dreams are given to us by God in seed form. He plants them in the cracks and crevices of our soul and spirit, and over time, they sprout in our heart and mind. If we partner with God, those dreams begin to produce fruit and move from the realm of imagination into the realm of reality.
As children, we are all fitted with an aptitude for imagination—the ability to perceive something before it has become a reality. Imagination can be the stuff of far-fetched fantasy or the genesis of a reality yet to be discovered or created. Both find their residence in the heart and the mind of a child. And this imagination fertilizes and irrigates the dream God has planted in us.
But sadly, most of those dreams are stolen. We accept the limitations of others, their crushing words, our insatiable appetite for acceptance, or we bow to the altars of reason, intellect, and cynicism. Those dreams entrusted to us by God are eventually lost under the debris of unbelief somewhere deep within in the dusty, cobwebbed corridors of a no longer needed childhood imagination.
Our world desperately cries out for a handful of dreamers who will once again entertain those God-sized dreams. We long for a few visionaries, who glimpse through their imagination what God’s reality for this world looks like. We crave some romantics who will lead us out of this malaise of skepticism and back into the authenticity of a society marked by genuine love. Without the ability to transact in the currency of the imagination, the hearts of those who profess to be Christ-followers will calcify and eventually petrify, leaving the world to its own hopeless, apocalyptic implosion.
We must reclaim our God-given capacity to dream. Dreaming is not a waste of time, it is a necessity to rescue and redeem our limited time. I challenge you to ask God to awaken the dreams he’s sown into your soul and spirit so long ago. Stop gorging yourself on what culture, society, intellectualism, or business says is equitable, acceptable, and financially feasible. Stop listening to the naysayers and the doomsdayers. Blow off the dust, take it in your hands, hold it close to your heart, and nurture that dream until it becomes all that God says it will be.
Let the dreamers arise and ascend until these divine aspirations move from the fertile fields of imagination into the fruitful place of realization.
8 Comments
Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh my heart cries out that I want to be the two in ten who completely surrenders and is used by Him to fulfill dreams. Thank you so much! These words are exactly what I needed!!
Nelson: Beautifully written (expressed) post. Reading your words took me back to my childhood in which ‘dreams’ were reality. Dreams in which all was possible, all was right with the world and God was along side me as a ‘best friend, buddy, and comrade’. Yes, most of life experiences attempt to chip away at the ‘true reality’ of the relationships experienced by children of God. I will make it a point to read more about you and your writings. Take care.
Mary….don’t allow life to rob you of God’s dream. Walk that dream out and God will give you the power to live “His” life through your life rather than the experiences of life smothering you and yours. God is far bigger than we can imagine and he dreams even bigger…for you!
So beautifully written, pulled back taught like an arrow and aimed at the center of my heart!
Thank you!
Lisa thanks so much for your comment. Dream big and always know God’s dream for you is far bigger!
Wow! This post is so me! I have been a dreamer since a child. I can perceive them before they are a reality and I always knew that one day they would come true! I still dream and as an adult, there are those that would pop my dream bubble just for spite. Dreams kept me going. Dreams give me hope. I did find along the way that sometimes dreams are better than reality (like meeting someone famous). I had a few dreams that fizzled, but hey let no one say I didn’t dream it and do it even if it wasn’t “all that!” I had some dreams that took 30 years to pass (like getting a grand piano – it is soooo beautiful!) I have a daughter who is better than the one in my dreams! Dreams when achieved have taught me, lead me down new paths, given me a new perspective, and fulfilled me. Thank you for that post to lead me to reflect on being a lifelong dreamer!
Thank you Michelle for the encouragement. Dream on!
I’m regularly to blogging and i truly value your content.
The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your website and keep checking
for new tips.