“I have a dream!” It rings in the ears of those who have something to chase, it either scares us or excites us, but it is what keeps us getting up each day to follow that dream, to get one day closer to whatever it looks like. Those who don’t have it, live in a routine and grey world of just enough, some have told themselves that this is all they deserve, some have learnt that having a dream was too painful and now they have retreated to the land of familiar and safe. We all have dreams, some run from them, some follow them and keep them alive and some have hidden them from sight to stop the pain, some feel it is too late and some have even become angry and bitter as the dream now taunts them as it sits in the corner of their lives as if in a cage.
Dreams are interesting things… As a coach, I often get to be part of helping clients find the resources to make the dream come to life, what a privilege it is to journey with these people. Sometimes I help clients navigate through a dry wilderness as they find the tree of hope where they can find their way back to the path of the lost dream and sometimes still we light the dark path of the thick forest of despair to pick up the pieces of a crashed dream. Each journey has great lessons for us both.
This week I read a post by Charlotte Gambill, “Dreaming is the easy part. We can all dream big. Yet all dreams need to be placed inside our bigger God. I find every time I bring my dreams to His Word, He loving shows me that the greatest work that has to be done in within me, before I scale the next mountain around me. Dreams are our passion feeders and discipline is our perseverance builder. Dreams are our inspiration and devotion is our sustainer. Dreams are energising and roots are establishing. Dreams are from God and our dedication is to God. Let every great dream come to the feet of our greater God. Become the student your summit requires in 2017. Ensuring dreams become realities.”
Since reading this post I have been pondering about dreams, sometimes when you journey with people and their giant sized dreams seem to be taking them on such a hard path, when you look at them and they are bloody, weary and seemingly ravaged, the temptation is to tell them to just give in, play it safe and go back to the base and safe place, but I know from experience that nothing worthwhile has even come in my life from easy and safe. John Maxwell said at the latest GLS, that anything worthwhile is Uphill, people want uphill lives but have downhill habits
If our purpose were a track, dreaming delivers us from the Here to There, but dreaming is only one side of the track. I have known (and been) many people who have great dreams, who can inspire you with the stories and pictures and ideas of those dreams, but the ones who get There and live to tell their story of victory, who have a HIStory, these are the ones who laid the other side of the track. This side is called Discipline, these are the one’s who not only dream, but also DO. Apparently the Maori’s have a saying, ‘When you pray, move your feet.” I just love that! These are the one’s who step by step, and day by day, did one activity at a time with consistency and dedication and that is what got the little train who thought he could up the hill.
And to keep those tracks together, so that the purpose will never be derailed is devotion, not to self and not even to the dream, but to the Dream giver. Knowing the designer of your dreams, for me makes all the difference. If you are the designer of your dreams, my guess is that they are only man sized. They will only have a small impact. God sized dreams are not safe and small, they are risky and require us to admit that we can’t do it on our own. And that’s the point, He never intended for us to go it alone, He always about community and connection, He want to be part of it and He is cheering you on.
If 2017 is going to be your year, why limit your dreaming to small and safe, be risky…. Ask the one who designed you for such a time as this what the best use of your talent, time and treasure will be and then dream… and with diligence, DO.
What are your dreams for 2017? What will you do to make it happen?