Perceptions #47

DARING TO DREAM

by Norman Bales

For more than sixty years a wonderful cast of characters from the Wizard of Oz have entertained young and old alike. We never tire of hearing a young Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy, especially as she sang about a place "somewhere over the rainbow" where "dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

The world is full of cynics who stopped dreaming a long time ago. Not content to stop dreaming themselves, the malcontents delight in shooting down our dreams for building better families, a better world, a better nation, better churches and better people.

I feel sorry for people who lose the ability to dream. I had a conversation a few years ago with a guy who just had his dream shot out from under him. I asked, "What are you going to do now?" He said, "I'm trying to catch hold of another dream." I like that spirit. I think he'll probably find a dream because he's looking for it.

If you're a dreamer, you're in some pretty good company. You can start with Abraham who chased a dream throughout his entire life. He dreamed of a "city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Joseph's dream resulted in some pretty rough treatment, first at the hands of his brothers and then the Egyptians. But things turned out exactly the way he dreamed them. And then there was Moses, who never quite realized his dream of setting foot on the promised land, but he carried God's people a long way in his quest to reach it.

The author of the 37th Psalm wrote, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." God specializes in making dreams come true. He doesn't promise to provide all our wishes. You really can't expect God to grant all your self-indulgent, materialistic desires. We should never forget that dream fulfillment is promised only to those who delight themselves in the Lord. When we can see things God's way and learn to want what God wants, all of our dreams will come true.

I like Dorothy because she refused to give up on her dream, regardless of the shenanigans attempted by the wicked witch of whichever direction. I feel sorry for those who allow themselves to become sucked into cynicism. William Herbert Carruth said, "God pity the little that's left of a man when the last of his dreams is dead." Don't stop ever stop dreaming. To stop dreaming is to stop living.

Norman's e-mail address: nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

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