Dreams

Dreams are a funny thing, and by dreams, I don't mean the imaginations we experience as we sleep each night, but rather those desires buried in our heart.  We dig them up, dust them off, look at them and then bury them again, like a dog with a bone.  Or at least that's how I do it.  You may be different.  Up until a year or so ago, my dreams remained so untouched that I couldn't even tell you where they were buried.  The ground was compacted and hard over them from being walked over for such a long time. 

Photo by Dan

It's easy to allow life to become a grind, in fact, a daily grind.  Though it's a clever name for a coffee shop, it's also a good picture of what life can become if we're not careful.  I'm still digging dreams up even now, but as I sit in the dirt of my life and poke around, it's becoming more fun... more like a game and less like work. 

One great example of a buried dream discovered is my husband, Rob.  Now, he doesn't know I'm writing this, so I'm thinking it'll be a bit of a surprise, but that's how I roll.  If you are unfamiliar with the recent turn of events, he's become a tattoo artist.  Now, I know what you're thinking... I didn't know Rob was an artist of the graphic sort and that's what I thought too!  If you DID know that, I am standing to my feet even now and applauding you.

I can confess to you that when he first tossed out the idea of becoming a tattoo artist, I caught the idea, promptly stabbed it with the dream killer pocket knife I keep handy, and then tossed it back to him deflated and dead.  Yep.  Call me dream killer.  Now, I could give you all kinds of logical reasons I did that to him, many of which you would probably nod your head at and some, perhaps you might not.  But, that doesn't matter.  The truth is that when you are not living your dreams, or even know what they are, it's super easy to walk around killing other peoples dreams.  What's the old saying?  "Misery loves company." 

Fortunately, Rob persisted and took my minor deconstructive surgery to his dream as fuel to fire his passion and God stepped in and did some work in me too.  So, in the way that I can be supportive, I am.  I am ever grateful that Rob didn't break and God corrected me because if not, then I wouldn't have been witness to God's incredible Grace on another human being.

There is something almost unbelievable when you witness something unfold that can only be explained by God's Grace.  Yes, Rob was born with artistic talent, but the fact that he has surrendered that talent to God has allowed God to bring about accelerated growth that can't be explained in the natural realm.  And that gives me hope.  Hope that when God says that we'll get back time that was lost or forfeit, it WILL happen. 

Just remember that it is only when we surrender our God given dreams and talents to Him that we see Him work on our behalf with Grace. 

When was the last time you went digging through the dreams you buried long ago?