We all have a dream and probably even several of living a better life then what we currently are living. Whether those dreams be about our own or our loved ones spirituality, whether it be work related, family related or just something that makes us happy, it is different for all of us.Fulfilling a dream of ours is just that, 'ours'. No one can fulfill it for us. We must take action to pursue our dreams. The problem is, too often we let life take over. Especially once we become mothers because time for ourselves is not so easily found any more. We tend to make the excuses, 'now is not the time', 'I'll start tomorrow', 'other things are more important' etc. etc. The longer we do that the more our dreams get buried and before we know it, we don't even remember what those dreams were because we allowed life to take over.
Yes, we may be busy and have several other responsibilities in our lives especially if we are mothers but our dreams are important too. I believe God gives us those dreams and wants us to take action on them and wants us to enjoy our lives as we live out our passions and dreams.
If we embraced just one of our dreams and took action no matter how small to pursue that dream, it sets in motion the passion and momentum to keep the dream from being buried. You might get off track for a bit and you might even have to go through several trials but one day, that dream will come to pass and probably be better then what you could have ever imagined.
8 comments:
Lori,
I really appreciate this post. It makes me think of that book by Bruce Wilkinson called The Dream Giver. It's a beautiful book on the "stages" of a dream. Several months ago, I wrote a coaching series on the life and legacy of Hannah including a piece on the 20 Characteristics of a Godly Dream. I've noticed that fear may keep us from pursuing our dream and the "work" keeps us from achieving it. So often, we simply don't "count the cost" and the Bible teaches us this principle. Lovely post. Thanks for sharing.
Lori, how beautiful to talk about our passions and our dreams. Thank you. Several years ago I was working with a friend and partner on creating a business. He asked me why I was so afraid to dream about our success with it. I realized that fear of failure was stopping me from embracing it, and I let go and abandoned myself to believing. Guess what? Right when all our work of three years was reaching fruition my friend became seriously ill and our business never launched. But God in his grace almost immediately gave me another dream, a smaller one, of designing on my own. And along the way I had learned so much from my partner - most importantly not to live in fear. Yes, "what if we embraced just one of our dreams" indeed.
Thanks for the comments Randee and Anne.
Anne, as I went to your website to get the button you created to put on my site, I found a great graphic of yours that I had to put up on this post that says it so well. I'm not quite sure how to get the words to wrap around the picture though.
Lori, how nice you saw that! Usually if you type first and then put the cursor where you want the image to go and select "left" (or right) then the type will wrap around the graphic. Sometimes I just center the graphic and then type below it. All that to say there's more than one right answer!
:)
Dreams...Wow, this is going to be a long post. Hope y'all don't mind. I have a lot to say.
Since I've had children I look at my life like a timeline. When I envision my line it is endless. I don't remember the beginning and my mind can't fathom the end. When I see the lives of my children as compared to mine it is but a mere speck while they are in my care. I knew from the beginning that my life as a mother would become my dreams temporarily. My life would enable my children to set goals, to accomplish their tasks and to dream for themselves. I knew that MY time would come after I'd given my children the ability to reach out and grasp their own dreams...to go above and beyond anything that I could ever have imagined for them.
Ok, here's the but...
Don't get me wrong, I don't have any regrets. But along the way, God threw a curve ball at me. I have been afflicted with a chronic illness for 12 years. For the first ten I still had a vision for my life once my boys were strong and on their own. But for the last two, dreams have disappeared from my mind. No longer do I have aspirations for the future, hopes that I once had. I live for the day, thankful for a good moment.
This isn't all bad. I find gratitude in places that I would have been blinded to if my life were something different. I find solitude on my back porch when the stress of the everyday wreaks havoc on my body. I find peace at the end of a songbird's melody, knowing that God is there in such perfection. I find selfless, servant-like attitudes in people who love me. I see the light of assurance when I am home to greet my kids at the end of their day. The list could go on.
Basically, what I'm saying is that sometimes God replants OUR dreams with His. Finding Him in every minute of everyday is my dream now.
Thanks for letting me share !!!
Wow, Sheri. What a beautiful post. Here's what I have come to believe with my whole heart. Satan wants us living in the past and in future. He "keeps" us in the past focusing on our failure, wanting us to claim the guilt and shame from which we have been redeemed OR he wants us so far into the future, making plans for this day or that when we know not what days we will have. But, God is in the present. He deeply cares about where we are and what we do NOW...at this very moment. What we choose to do now determines the treasures we are building in heaven. Are we living for the earthly treasure or the eternal treasures? Great post. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Lori. We do need to remember that we have dreams - and that God placed them in our hearts for a reason: to be fulfilled.
Sheri, finding Him in every minute of everyday is a beautiful dream. Thanks for sharing, there is nothing like living in the present especially with God.
Good point also Randee how Satan likes to either keep us in our past or looking to our futures instead of truly enjoying the present. It's funny because I just read something else similar to that.
Norka, thanks for the comment how our dreams are there for a reason - to be fulfilled. So true.
Post a Comment