“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Proverbs 13:12
“A unicorn!”
This, of course, the response of a wee little when asked a very particular question.
The question?
‘What would you like to be when you grow up?’
Who doesn’t want to be a unicorn?
What a dream.
Who wouldn’t want a rainbow mane and a pearly white horn protruding from between your eyes? I mean, really. Imagine the street cred at your kids’ birthday parties.
Epic.
Maybe you are the rarity who doesn’t care to be a unicorn.
What is your dream?
Have you thought about it lately?
Are you pursuing something that you are passionate about? Or did your dream die long ago?
When I was a kid, I loved writing. I wanted to write novels. I scribbled and sketched characters and filled notebooks with plots and invented life stories for the folks I invented.
I dreamed of being published.
But the dream kept – fizzling out. My heart was just so damaged deep in some secret place even I couldn’t tap into. I kept forgetting that I had a dream. I learned to smother it in the struggle to become someone I wasn’t, in the tension created by needing to forget to survive.
But dreams take a lot of killing. The desire to write and create was still there, even when I couldn’t touch it or name it or claim it belonged to me.
See this tree?
I noticed it while on a hike with Hubby and Scientist Daughter. I loved the bark. I touched it – corky and gnarled, it held my imagination. There was something about it that fed my curiosity and my admiration.
I don’t know what species of tree it is. I just know it is old, and wise, and strong. It has stood against winds and withstood insect invasions and dry conditions and frigid temperatures.
And still, it stands, aiming for heaven.
It’s a tree of life.
It’s rather like the dreams hidden inside my heart.
What do you dream of?
I believe God has placed a deep desire for greatness within the human heart. I believe that He gifts us and prepares us to fulfill a purpose. We have a destiny to create just as He creates – we are made in the image of God, after all.
How do you express creativity?
Do you have a knack for budgets, or organization? Can you paint, or fix things, or cook? Do you love meeting the needs of others? Do you write, or teach, or design beautiful spaces?
Part of the joy of human existence is finding and pursuing your dream, the unique purpose God has built into your framework. It is like this tree – a beautiful, refreshing, monumental strength that will help you to withstand the onslaughts of the perplexities of life.
I don’t know where my dreams will take me. But here I am, learning to honour my dreams in small ways, writing for you.
Living the dream.
Take one small step toward living your dream with me?
Father, thank you for designing each of us with a unique purpose and instilling dreams within our hearts. Help us to be authentic, expressing who we are by discovering the dreams You have given us. Amen.
Growing in Grace 