don't give up on your dreams

Did you ever have a dream
that went unrealized?

Now, I don't mean the kind of dream
you have while sleeping.
Rather, a deeper sort of passion
which stirs within...
tumbling, bumbling, whirring and
whizzing about when it's all you can
think of for a time in your life.

Maybe it was when you
didn't have the time or the money
to put it into place.

Maybe it was when you
didn't have the independence
or the freedom to make
your own choices.

Maybe you began it
and somewhere along the way
got distracted, or bogged down
with life's many daily drudgeries.

And your dream just lost it's
tumbling, bumbling, whirring and
whizzing fervor, when it got stuffed
into a dull gray dusty corner somewhere.

I know the disappointment,
I know the loss and feel of lack.
Believe me, I've got more dusty dreams
than I care to count.

I try to tell myself
I'll get them all done someday.
But the tomorrows just keep
rolling past me.

I know all the pep talks,
I've given them to myself.

I've read all the self-help blogs
and tried all the goal setting tips.
Why am I the one who can't finish?

I want to encourage you
to pick up your dream, dust it off
and start dreaming again.
But if I don't do the same for mine,
then what kind of friend am I?

I'm certain that God planted
within each of us seeds of dreams
which were meant to be grown
into the fullness of purpose.
And I know these are not
just for our own selves
but for those whose lives we
can influence around us.

So when I came across
this word from Paul today,
I was hit smack between the eyes...

And in this I give advice:
It is to your advantage not only
to be doing what you began and
were desiring to do a year ago;
but now you also must complete
the doing of it;
that as there was a readiness
to desire it, so there also
may be a completion
out of what you have.

For if there is first a willing mind,
it is accepted according to
what one has, and not according
to what he does not have.
2 Corinthians 8:10-12 NKJV

​I really think Paul is telling me...
telling those of us who have
dropped our dreams,
is to stop listening to the lie
which says that we missed
our opportunity;
the lie that it's too late for us
to begin again.

I think he is encouraging us
to dig up our dream,
to consider it again...
even if we didn't finish before.

Good Heavens!
We've grown since then,
we've learned things, and
become more prepared.

If God has given us a willing mind
and the passion within...
He can provide all we need
to fulfill our purpose.

And if we are destined
to serve His kingdom,
then what He planned for us to do,
what He planned for us to give...
will serve the needs of others.

For His plan in our lives
always gives room, not only
for grace to us, but grace through us.

Hard work.
Action,
Gratitude.
Grace, grace and more grace.
Yes toward others,
but also to ourselves.
These are things we need to
build within our daily practice.

But we must realize our hard work
will come with a price.
We will need to serve others
without reward or notice.
For their approval is not why
we were given a dream in God's plan.

But God always provides
in His own way...

When God took care of the Israelites
in the wilderness for the forty years
He provided the miracle of manna.

It was this white puffy substance
that appeared on the ground like dew
in the morning and the people
were to gather only one day's worth.

If they gathered more and tried
to store it up, any that remained
would spoil... or corrupt.

There was no hoarding, no stashing,
no selfishness, nor greed.
No one could think only
of themselves, nor profit from it.

It simply wasn't how God intended
manna to supply their needs.

God wanted them to rely
completely upon Him, DAILY.

So it is. when God gives us ideas,
when God plants a dream in us.

They are to be gathered now,
for our daily supply.
We may not be stepping into
the Promise Land of the Dream yet,
but we must gather daily
what He gives, putting the thoughts
and ideas into some form of action.

If we try to store them up, or
stash them away, they will spoil.
They won't mean the same later,
They won't have the same impact
the same purpose, even
the same intended audience
God planned for us to reach...
later.

Remember...
as there was a readiness
to desire it, so there also
may be a completion
out of what you have.

For if there is first a willing mind,
it is accepted according to
what one has, and not according
to what he does not have.

If God tilled the soil of our heart,
this readiness for the dream,
it is the seed of desire.

He also then, already
created within us the strength
and determination to fulfill it...
our purpose for His kingdom's sake.

I say it's time we started stirring
tumbling, bumbling, whirring and
whizzing about until everyone knows
that our dream is about to come true!

Let's dig up that dusty dream
and renew the fervor we once had.

Word of God
train me today...
To never give up
on the dream You planted in me.

To constantly till the soil of my heart,
nurture and fertilize the plantings,
so that You grow me into
the fulness of purpose
​planned for me in the Kingdom of God.