Happy Monday, my friends! No matter how young or how old we are, we all have dreams. For most of us when we’re younger those dreams are grander, less fully considered, and often fixated on something special—wealth, fame, beauty, etc. As we get older, our dreams divide into realistic, perhaps even attainable goals and dreams which have no chance of coming true, but are still great for an idle afternoon. I feel like I’m in this phase of dreaming, but listening to those who have been around a bit longer it seems dreams diverge even more and more until dreams become as simple as playing with grandchildren, seeing children or grandchildren reach their own dreams, and making it to important dates in one’s life.
I’ve been thinking about dreams quite a bit lately. Had you asked me ten years ago what my dream life or my dream job would be I probably would have said working for a nonprofit and serving a church in some form or maybe owning a bookstore like Bluestockings in NYC and working for a church. Something along those lines. Fast-forward to today and I might not own a bookstore, but I work for a great nonprofit and I’m the pastor of a small, quirky, justice-focused church. What do you do when you reach your dream? After spending so much time considering what’s next, how do you think about what’s next when you don’t want the experience to end?
Fortunately, some of my friends have found themselves in similar spots. One friend, after more than a decade of running strategic communications for major advocacy organizations and nationally prominent churches, is very happy becoming a stranger to social media, writing, and consulting from their home in rural New England. Another friend and his wife recently had their third child and first boy. Even though he has become the epitome of the “girl dad” to his two adorable daughters, he expressed something different and fulfilling about having a son. For him, he now has his dream and also expressed the strange feeling of happiness mixed with not wanting anything to come next other than watching his children grow up.
Thirty years ago, I wanted to be a paleontologist—yes, that’s what I wanted to do at age six. Twenty years ago, my dream was to be a Catholic priest in a religious order who wore some sort of medieval style habit. Ten years ago, I wanted what I have now. Now? Well, if I let myself go there, my dream now is to do everything I’m doing now with a husband and that bookstore I mentioned.
What are your dreams? How have your dreams changed since you were young?
Let us pray: God, you’ve given us the ability to dream about whatever we want. Guide our dreams to you and the grandeur and vastness of divinity which transcends every human label and transgresses every boundary we might try to put on you. Guard our dreams, God, lest we cease to delight in wonder. Guard our dreams, God, lest fantasy keep us from realizing our dreams in this world. We ask this of you because you dream large dreams of us. Amen.
Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Faithfully,
Ben