Vroom, Vroom!

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the heart's of men. Goethe

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
Victor Hugo

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdepedence produces the highest form of living. Anais Nin


How many people sit in a room dreaming of the life they want, a life where they are fully alive, yet do little or nothing to turn those dreams into reality? Why not “roll the dice” and see what happens? Why not run after the dream, grab it by the throat, and drag it out of the ethereal into the real?

“Well, what if I fail? What if The Dream turns out to be only a fantasy? From this vantage point, the dream remains a distant hope that may one day come true. If I go after the dream and fail, what hope is there for me? What will I have to live for?”

NEWS FLASH

Dreams don’t come true while we passively sit around hoping for One Day.

Dreams come true through the trials and errors of our efforts.

“Errors?”

Yes, errors. Somehow, God and His Universe uses even our mistakes and missteps to move us along in the direction of our destiny, just as our parents used our mistakes to facilitate our maturation process.

“Well, if the dream is from God, if it is my destiny, then God will bring it about.”

Yowza! This is not an expression of a living faith in a loving God, but a demonstration of fatalism. “Que sera, sera.” Whatever will be, will be. “All I have to do is trust God in my heart, and all will work out as He plans.”

Really? Did St. Paul hang out in Jerusalem, trusting that God would use him to reach the Gentiles … who were not in Jerusalem, by the way … or did he get on down the road chasing after the Gentiles (the dream)? Did he take responsibility for what he did toward the realization of his dream (vision/calling/destiny/whatever) or did he call passivity “faith” and just let things “happen as they will”?

Am I actively trusting in the Good God who is my Father while I work toward the realization of my dreams, or am I actually trusting in Fate—or, in other words, am I allowing circumstances to be my God? Am I a follower of God or a Victim of Circumstances? And living at the mercy of circumstances is not living, and it is not faith: it is sleepwalking and fatalism.

Think of your life as an automobile for which God has given you the keys. What do you do?

Do you keep the car in the garage, trusting that if God wants it to go somewhere He will miraculously start the car and guide it to where He wishes?

“I am scared of driving. What if I make a wrong turn?” First: “wrong turns” often turn out to be providential, i.e., the Right Turn. Second: sometimes “wrong turns” are the most exciting and educational parts of our Quest. Third: “wrong turns” are only dream-killers when we refuse to learn and grow from the experience. Get in the car and take the wheel!


Do you give the keys to someone or something (circumstances) else?

“But they are smarter/more spiritual/wiser/better drivers than I am. Besides, he/she/they/it is the authority on driving.” And how did they get to be this way? By taking their own cars out for a spin; by taking wrong turns; by making mistakes in judgment and learning from it. Come on! It’s your car, and yours alone.

But what if I wreck it? What if you don't? Anyway, if you do, at least you were driving your car in the direction of your dreams. There is a particular dignity in such a wreck: a dignity that cannot be had if you had given away your keys. And, hey, haven't you ever heard of mechanics and body-shops?

Furthermore, allowing circumstances to dictate what happens with your car is like taking off for a destination and then going home because of a roadblock, rather than finding another road and staying the course. And sitting in the back seat while circumstances push your car around may be a cool way to hide from your responsibility for your car and where it is headed ... but you and God both know that you are not living life, you are hiding.

What are your dreams worth, anyway?


Or do you get in your car and get on down the road?

And remember, when I stand before God, He isn’t going to be asking me about what others did with my car or to my car, but about my stewardship of the life He gave to me.

Vroooom, Vroooom!

Copyright, Monte E WIlson, 2008