The Dream

The dream.

There are some dreams that are very individual. For instance, when I was in the second grade I fell in love with the boy that sat next to me. He was a new boy at school and I knew we were destined to be married (I guess I was a hopeless romantic even then). I dreamt one night of him and another cute boy in my grade fighting in a boxing ring for my attention while I sat by the side in a gorgeous red gown awaiting the winner- who would obviously be the new boy. It was a good dream and I had it more than once. It’s nice to be liked by boys, and that was a dream that I had then.

I’m not in the second grade anymore though. Chances are, neither are you.

The things we used to dream of have changed-even if the core values may still be similar. There is one dream though that seems to have caught us all as we have grown. It has whispered in our ears what we want to hear, and we have listened and followed in pursuit. We want it. We shape our lives to gain it. We dream about it.

We dream of the good life.

What is the good life? Well, I guess that depends on you and what things you hold dear. For many of us it is the nice house with the right number of kids and the good-looking or successful spouse by our side encouraging us to follow our dreams of more ‘good stuff’. For others it is a life of total independence, exploring the world with few rules and even fewer things to tie us down. For others the dream is still undefined, but we dream of the dream. We dream of knowing what we want to do and knowing how to get there.
As women, the dream calls to us in our relationships, our careers and our families, asking us to chase it with all of what we’re made of.

I guess if we’re devoting our lives to it, if we’re giving all we’re made of to it, we ought to ask, where is our dream coming from?

I’m convinced lately that many of the things I’ve dreamed of having in my life I’ve dreamed of because someone else told me it was the right dream, the most desirable thing. But i living in the suburbs with a nice car and a nice house really the dream I should pursue? Is traveling the world in pursuit of beauty and truth really what will fulfill me? Will having a ‘passion’ (other than Christ) really make me whole?

I think sometimes we confuse what other people call success with the completion of God’s intention for our lives. What is it that God wants me dreaming of? What is it that Christ desires of my life? Is it the suburban life? If it is, then I want it. If it’s not, I want to know that and to look for what He’s calling me to.

It says in Proverbs 20:24 “Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, How then can man understand his way?” I think I so often get the idea that my steps are ordained by my dreams. I feel like if I’ve dreamt of it, then it must be a dream that I should step toward. I’m learning more and more though that the steps I take in my life toward something really should be the steps God is directing me to. That’s hard because sometimes God’s steps seem out of synch with the successes calling our names from our dreams. It’s hard because sometimes God doesn’t make sense in my understanding of logic. But the thing is, I may not understand His way, but I know that it is the way that will lead me to the ultimate dream of my life as a Christian: Living in a way that is worthy of the gift of Christ, gaining in the death of my dreams more than I ever could have found in the pursuit of the empty life chasing dreams I created on my own.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe God gives us dreams and passions sometimes that do direct our steps. The difference is, God has given us those dreams, and we haven’t dreamt them up ourselves in an effort to fill some sort of selfish purpose.

We need to know the source of dreams. We need to know where they come from, so we know where they might lead us.

To sum it up, Colossians 3:1-4, says it pretty well:
“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

He is our life. Let Him be our dream.