Being Lost Is The First Step To Getting FoundНамуна

(Don't) Follow Your Dreams

As children, we’re often encouraged to follow our dreams. If you believe it, you can achieve it. Don’t give up on your dreams. Believe in…yourself. 

But where does that leave us? When we’re younger, it may motivate us to accomplish our goals, but as we become adults, it often becomes the recipe for anxiety and discontent. Does this mean we shouldn’t set goals or have dreams? Not necessarily. But it should challenge us to consider where our focus is. Are we so wrapped up in our visions of the future that we’re missing what’s happening now, in the present? Are we so fixated on meeting certain expectations and worried about failing that we can’t enjoy and rest in what God has placed in our lives at this moment? 

C. S. Lewis reminds us that the momentary “interruptions” of the present are in fact a part of God’s best plan for us: “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day.”

In dreaming for our future, we need to consider whether we’re keeping in mind God’s will for our lives, or setting those dreams up as idols. Is the security and value we feel in accomplishing these dreams our focus, or is God the center of our worship? 

As we pray for help in keeping God the focus, let’s also embrace the fact that He has much bigger dreams for us than we could ever imagine. Whereas our dreams are often temporary and small in comparison, His are eternal and life-changing. And the best part? We’re not expected to accomplish His dreams on our own. He will take any insecurity and weakness we have and use them to do mighty things with His strength. Let’s follow His dream instead.