“… I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.”
Numbers 12:6
When you were little, what did you dream about? What did you dream of doing? Who did you dream of becoming?
While I have shared in other blog posts, growing up, riding and showing horses was my passion. I got my first pony, Shadow, in the 4th grade. I remember I would often take Shadow into the field across from my parent’s house and we would spend hours racing up the hill and across the field while I imagined what it would be like to be a jockey in the Kentucky Derby. I actually dreamed of growing up to be a jockey…until I passed the average weight limit in the 7th grade! Clearly God had other plans for me!
As a kid, no dreams were off limits.
There was freedom to imagine doing and being anything. Today, my three boys, (like so many others) all dream of being professional athletes. Assuming their dreams become reality, we will be set as we will have boys in the NFL, NHL and MLB; I’ll take it.
While most of us found it easy to dream as kids, something seems to happen as we get older and life begins to take over.
In the midst of taking on adult responsibilities, dreams often begin to die. Whether we let them fade on our own, have others tell us to let them go, or realize after years of trying we are no closer to achieving them than when we started, many of us let our dream die.
I have sat across the table from many women, whether coaching clients or friends who have often articulated the same thing. They have somehow lost themselves in the midst of life and no longer dream any dreams. Dreaming seems frivolous. Dreaming seems impractical. Dreaming seems like a non-essential luxury. Many are not even sure what they would dream about.
But what if dreaming is not frivolous? What if dreaming is not impractical? What if dreaming is not a non-essential luxury?
What if dreaming is one way God Himself places in us His plans and purposes for our lives?
In the book the Dream Giver, author Bruce Wilkenson says, “You have a big dream. God put a driving passion in you to do something special. Why wouldn’t He? You are created in His image – the only person exactly like you in the universe. No one else can dream your dream…Your big dream was planted in you before you were even born…Your dream is yours to act on. God is waiting for you to value His gift of your dream enough to live it. He will not force you to choose, nor will he ‘make it happen’ for you. You must choose. You must act.”
I recently asked one client, “What would it look like for you to dream again?”
I think that is a question we could all benefit from asking ourselves. What would it look like for YOU to dream again?
God has given you a dream, a gift. It may be buried, it may seem lost, but it is there. What would it look like for you to dream again? What would it look like for you to find the dream God has given you and to live it out? The world needs who God made you to be. The world needs you to dream again. Will you?
