My family and I watched the movie, The Hill, this week featuring Dennis Quaid as a minister with a disabled son, Ricky, whose son would go on one day to play for a short time with a Major League affiliate. Ricky was determined he was given a gift by God to play and worked at it and dreamed about it, even against his father's wishes. Without telling you more, just watch the movie. I believe it was free on Netflix.
Afterwards, I went to my room to read my Bible before getting ready for bed, my normal routine. But I couldn't get the idea of dreaming vs. practicality out of my head. I love to dive into words and find their "true meaning" not just what we generally believe that word to be. I could ask 20 people the meaning of the word dream and get 20 answers.
So I looked it up:
Dream - a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal (similar words: ambition, aspiration, hope, goal, target, intention, yearning, desire, aim, objective)
Practicality - the aspects of a situation that involve the actual doing or experience, rather than theories or ideas (similar word: mechanics)
Practicality has a big place in life and is necessary. We need to eat, have adequate housing, take care of each other. All practical things. Without practicality, life unravels at its already tenuous strings. But what about dreaming?
There are many Bible verses that guide us to trust the Lord, not let fear hold you back, and to step out in faith.
Ecclesiates 5:1-7 offers this wisdom:
Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there is also vanity. But fear God.
In my own life and especially recently, I've tried to stay practical because dreaming seems to far-fetched, out of reach, not for me. I have a family to care for, people depending on me. I didn't think it was okay for me to dream. I needed to be practical because that is practically my middle name :). And, unlike Ricky, no one was telling me I couldn't dream about something new for myself. I placed those borders on my own life.
What I found out: Practicality is a thief of dreams. I missed out on more than I care to admit because I hid behind the practical, the necessary, the mechanics of life. But starting with this business, I've decided to dream again. Dream that I can do more, work for myself, impact who I feel called to, and spread the love of the Lord and the written words I love so much.
It's time to dream again. Who's with me?
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