“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt. I of course have never met the late, great Eleanor Roosevelt, but I will say that she captured true inspiration when she said that. I would have said thank you for those infamous words that so eloquently put the future of our lives in such great perspective, and reach. Living Life in 3D has to begin somewhere. Yes, you’ve got to reach your destination. And yes, you’ve got to take that drive. But, before you hop on your Harley of life, your Ferrari of Fate, or you Vehicle of Vitality, you must first…dream!
What is a dream? Well there are many ways to answer that question of course. It all depends on who you ask. If you ask that person that loves to read and may have been the nerdy friend growing up (we all have them…or may have been them), he or she may give the very well known Webster’s Dictionary version of that answer. Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur usually involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Ok…definitely not incorrect by any means. Then if you get that easy going, laid back friend that goes with the wind, they may say, “Oh…dreams…you know…they happen when you go to sleep and you remember stuff!” Who knows what in the world they meant?! But then, in a vast sea of friends and associates who may sit back and live out other people’s lives and fantasies, there’s that one glimmer of hope in the friend that most people don’t talk to…right now, that is. That friend always finds themselves venturing off on their own because they take the roads others don’t. That friend is sometimes, quirky, or seemingly awkward because they always do things different from everyone. That’s the friend people sometimes call weird or even a loner, because they’re not often seen at the party, and if they are, they may be dressed different from every one else! That person…so many of us can see in ourselves. Lots of us can identify with that person. So ask me…ask me what a dream is. I’ll tell you. A dream is a God-given vision, of what you already have.
The Dream. The God given vision of what you already have. What do I mean by that? I’m so glad you asked me! You have plenty of choices in life laid before you. Now, don’t get me wrong, some of us have more choices than others. Yes, we all have the same rights and by law, we pretty much can do what we want to do, but not everyone is going to take the same steps to get there. Two children with the same GPA may both graduate with honors from Yale, but it doesn’t mean they both had the same steps to take. One of those kids may have had to raise himself in the ghetto, as the other one had home tutors and a nanny named Hilda! Or on the other hand, maybe the one child from the ghetto had the greatest stay at home mom or dad that coached and encouraged them along the way, while that rich privileged kid dealt with the terror of having a cocaine addicted mother or father raise them in a financially successful family. Same destination; different drive. I’ll discuss that more in the months to come when I share about the drive and the destination. But as it relates to the dream…again, it’s the God given vision of what you already have.
How many cooks, bakers, chefs, puzzle people, gardeners, or anyone else that like to make things or put things together do we have in the place?! Raise your hands! Now, you may have different things your are doing: some a cake, some a glorious roast, some a masterpiece puzzle, or an award-winning bouquet. But the thing you all have in common is that you saw something before you started. It was a vision…a completed picture of what you already have in front of you. You saw it and knew what you had. The next step was just following the directions to the end product. BUT…you knew what it was!
That’s how dreams are! When I say dreams, I don’t necessarily mean those dreams you see at night when you sleep. But I’m talking about those visions that you see all day, awake or sleep. These are the ones that give you goose bumps when you think or talk about them.
Denzel Washington said this; “True desire in the heart for anything good is God’s proof to you, sent before hand, to indicate that it’s yours already. “ That says a whole lot! I don’t believe we choose our dreams. I believe our dreams choose us! We just choose which one of our dreams to go after first. That’s kind of like the Webster’s definition…it used the term, INVOLUNTARILY. Our dreams are our gifts…presents even. So if this is true, that our dreams choose us, why do we doubt dreams? Why do we doubt ourselves?
When we get a dream, whether old or new, a number of things happen. First we see it. Then we get excited! We get this feeling that rushes through our veins like fire on a first date! We see the vision and our hearts pump fast—almost ready to pop out of our chests! We can’t focus on anything else! Our eyes and ears cater to one thing, whatever that dream is! We start imagining ourselves there, doing it…winning! The crowd stands with an ovation! The president places the ribbon around your neck! Oprah hands you the keys to the building…and then something happens. The baby cries. The lady at the register says, “Ma’am, will this be credit or debit.” The man with the clipboard says, ”Sorry, come back and try again in 6 months.” Life happens. And when it does, we for some reason declare that there’s now no room for you “Mr. Dream.” Sorry, but the open world is now closed to you because I have LIFE stuff. This is true. We all have life stuff. But the difference between a winner and a quitter is, a quitter divorced their dream!
I used to say all the time that one of my dreams was like an abusive girlfriend. She would hurt me bad, then I’d get over it, and for some reason, she would creep right back up on me. I couldn’t shake her. Then I realized something, why shake her when she just wants to be embraced! (We are still talking about dreams, right?!) Anyway, embrace that dream. Don’t run from it. Let it live with you. Let it coincide with your life. There’s room. You don’t have to choose one or the other. Always remember this… you just have to choose which path to take (or road to drive) to that destination!