What Do You Do With Your Dreams?

There is an award-winning children’s book by Kobi Yamada called What Do You Do with an Idea?  It’s a whimsical tale of a young child following the up and down journey of seeing an idea become a reality.  It caught my heart, but I confess that I prefer the word “dream” — which carries more romance, mystery, and delight — over a mere “idea.”  To me, dreams are multi-dimensional, colorful, living things, while ideas seem to be two-dimensional and functional.  But regardless of the semantics, the question remains, when you have one, what do you do with it?

Do you take care of it?  Feed it?  Nurture it?  Give it space to live and grow in your heart and in your life?  

Or do you exhaust your time sizing it up?  Looking at it from all angles?  Weighing up the possibilities and the probabilities?  Considering if you have the capacity to see it through?  

At the end of the day, another question to ask is not whether you have a dream, but does the dream have YOU?!  Endless dreams may run through our minds, entertaining us now and again with their sparkling personalities and exciting potential.  But if we don’t allow them to take hold of us, they will never see the light of day.  Quite often, our dreams end up on the proverbial shelf at the back of the closet gathering dust because we didn’t give them space to grow in our lives. 

For many years, this was the story of my dream of becoming a writer.  I have always loved to write.  I write for myself all the time.  I have dozens of journals and pages upon pages of ideas for stories, blogs, and books.  I have even written a few short stories that I’ve shared with a very small circle.  Despite all this writing, I never got to the point where I actually allowed my dream to come to life. 

At some point, if we want our dreams to live and sing and dance, we have to get over ourselves and any of the hesitations that hold us back: fear, doubt, worry, comparison, insecurity, etc.  The biggest obstacle for me is having no guarantee how things will work out.  This trips me up time and again because I hate to waste anything, especially my time, energy, or treasure which are always in limited supply.  But guess what?  It turns out that my careful “stewardship of my resources” was actually wasting my talent!  

I recently read the book On Writing by the the prolific writer Stephen King, and he said, “If God gives you something to do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?”  Great question!

Not all dreams are God-dreams, of course, but many are.  Many times, God reaches out and invites us into a partnership with Him to do new things, climb new heights, create new opportunities.  And at some point, we have to take a leap of faith to see those dreams become a reality.  We have to step out — even if we’re scared.  

This is where I am right now.  I rescued my dream from the shelf in the closet, dusted it off, and began to let it live.  I’ve invested some of my valuable resources — time, energy, and treasure — into letting it grow.  I took a writing course.   I co-authored a book with my husband Steve (Free to Be Me: Unlocking All You were Created to Be — find the link below).  A website and this newsletter have been born.  I’ve written some stories, and I am working on a few different writing projects that I can’t wait to share with you.  

I’m right in the middle of it all!  The dream is alive!  But it is nowhere near its fulfillment.  I am figuring it out along the way.  And that is how it works.  It doesn’t happen all at once, probably because the shaping of a dream requires the shaping of ourselves.  The dream is changing me, stretching me, expanding me.  I am growing into it, as I grow in confidence, in skill, and in my commitment to take my dream seriously and give myself to it.  

Along the way, I have found it is much easier to follow a dream with the support of others.  For a long time, I kept my dream mostly to myself, afraid to speak it out and let it become real.  But ever since I began to share about it with my family and friends, I have been strengthened and encouraged by others believing in my dream and believing in me.  And you, my dear reader, are part of this journey!  Thank you for your support and encouragement! 

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So, what do you do with a dream?  Here is what I suggest.  Welcome it, opening the door of your heart to it.  Pray about it, asking God what He thinks and how He might want to help.  Invest in it, giving the resources needed to cause it to grow and thrive.  Share about it, allowing those around you to support you and cheer you on.  And most of all, enjoy it!  Enjoy the journey, the learning curve, the detours, the struggles, and the victories!  Allow it to shape you, to stretch you, and to delight you!   I guarantee if you partner with your dream in this way, you will learn new things; you will go places you never thought possible; and you will discover more about yourself than you ever could imagine!  Take courage, Dear One, and dream away!!

A Prayer

Dear Lord, I’m not always sure what I am supposed to do with the dreams and ideas that I have.  Please guide me to know which dreams are from You and how I can partner with them.  Give me wisdom, hope, and courage to grab hold of these dreams and to let them get hold of me.  Help me to have enough faith in You and belief in myself to live out my dreams for Your Glory.  

In Jesus’s Name, Amen.