For the Dreamers.

Dreams.

We all have them. We all dream about tomorrow, the future. Everyone in the world has had a dream at some point in their life.

The dreams vary from person to person, dependent on our life situation and placement in the world. A child growing up in the inner city may only dream of going to college, or a person in a poor economic region of the world may dream of merely surviving the next day. Some dream of wealth or fame, some dream of love. Some people just dream of getting the new iPad or posting a status on facebook that will attain a lot of "likes" (I can very much relate to the latter of those two).

The focus here is not the content of the dream, but the reason for them. We all have dreams, it's one of those shared human experiences that breaks the barriers of social, economic, racial, and religious divisions.

What I have wrestled with in myself is the simple question of Why? Why do I hope for what I hope for? Why do I have the dreams that I have? Why aren't they coming to fruition?

Behind our dreams can lie a lot of frustration. There can be this kind of expectancy. A sort of tug-o-war between what is now and what is to come, between who we are and who we wish to be.

I believe one of the reasons for why we dream is that it is Gods way of saying to us who we are and our role in his kingdom. If you think about it, I bet what you dream of becoming is directly related with how God has wired you and the gifts he has given you.

The problem is when our dreams become self centered and not others centered. Jesus dreamed of a world shaped by love for God and neighbor. A world in which people's gifts and dreams had a direct impact on those around them in their daily lives.

It's not wrong to dream, it's certainly not wrong to dream of doing something you love. Where it goes wrong is when it comes from a place of selfish ambition.

The reality is that if we are not doing our best to be faithful each day to loving those in front of us, or to laying down our rights to God, then all we are doing with our dreams is placing ourselves in a world that does not yet exist, while the one that we are in right now gets forgotten about.

My point is this: What good is a dream that is unsustainable? What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul? Or to get everything you ever dreamed of, only to lose it because you weren't the person you needed to be?

I for one, no longer want to live with my head in the clouds, making plans that I have little control over anyway. I want to be faithful in the now, content, and trusting God that he has gone before me and is charting my course with love and faithfulness.

This is just who God is. He looks out for us, loves us in ways we dont deserve, and a big part of that love is holding our futures in his hand.

So dream. hope. look ahead. But do it in such a way that it is focused on the kingdom of heaven, focused on other people and the bigger picture of life.

Don't focus on the dreams instead of your daily life
Rather, let the dreams inform your daily life.

And in all things, let Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith and our stories, open our eyes to who he desires us to be, and what he desires us to do. Take it from a guy who has seen the depths of despair more times than I can say, he is faithful, and he is trustworthy.