Have you experienced the death of a dream? Maybe it was a career that didn't materialize, the happy and loving marriage you'd always dreamed of but aren't experiencing or has even ended in divorce. It could be the path your child(ren)is taking? For some, it's the perfect health you've always enjoyed....until now.
I know I've experienced the death of a dream and I can tell you that it didn't die, easily - In fact, I tried to resurrect it, repeatedly, only to find it was unresponsive to all my desperate attempts at resuscitation! Not long ago, I finally came to a place where I realized I had to give my dead dream a proper burial so that the birth of a new dream could take root!
It's important, before we bury a dream, we allow ourselves to mourn and then we examine it, just as a coroner examines a body to discover the cause of death, before turning it over to it's final resting place. We need to understand what happened...inasmuch as it helps us to move on, in a new direction, and then we need to lay it to rest.
I know one dream of mine, regarding the pathway each of my boys would take as they grew into adulthood, was destined for the grave, because its success depended on the choices of other people and, I didn't realize it, at the time, but I thought I was in control of the outcome. You see, if I played my role, correctly, and implemented the "right" formula, the outcome was a sure thing! It's easy, right? 2+2 most definitely =4! Thing is, friends, I had made that dream a god in my life instead of God, himself. I didn't realize it but I had that dream in a death grip (pun intended) and allowed it to become a "have to happen" the way I envisioned it situation. I can see, looking back now, that, unintentionally,I caused my boys alot of pain, while I thought I was protecting them and training them in the way they should go! Don't get me wrong, here. We should teach our children the Word of God and pray with them, help them, as much as possible, to choose the good and right things in everything they do, from the words they speak, to the things they allow into their minds, to abstinence in dating and so on! It IS our responsibility and if we shirk that, as parents, we have to account for it. At the same time, we must always keep God as our God and realize that things may not go just as we'd like or thought they should, but God has a redemptive plan and it could look a lot different than ours. Since I had the wrong god, it was devastating, beyond words, when it didn't pan out like I thought! I missed what I am now enjoying and that is having the sure faith that God is at work in their lives and resting in that, day by day.
Now, not all dreams die because of ours or someone else's wrong choices. There are times when God allows things to happen in our lives for reasons we may not understand until we reach eternity and we must accept that. I love this phrase I once heard, "In acceptance, lieth peace." We rely on God and our Christian friends and family to help us through those times and pray for God to be glorified in the outcome.
Other dreams are never realized because of inaction on our part or a debilitating fear that keeps us from taking a risk. Once we realize that a dream is lifeless, we must guard against allowing fear to take root instead of a new dream! I've been there! May we never live a day without a dream! It may be a more appropriate or attainable version of a misdirected dream or it may be entirely new but we must never compare the new dream to the old one. Often things behind us appear better than they were! :-) We need to check with the Source who gives us life, and allow him to birth those new dreams that have purpose and are marked by his grace.
Today, if you are holding on to a dead dream, it is likely hurting you and keeping you from a brand new one! Take a trip to your knowing place and bury it before God. He will birth a new and wonderful dream in your heart, as you yield to his plan. You will begin to feel the stirrings of hope and anticipation, and the heaviness of the grief you've been carrying, will find it's resting place. I know it's true. I've experienced it.
Jer. 31:13: "I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow."
Eccl. 3:4, "[there is] a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..."
Still Climbing,
Cher
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