Dreams

We all have those dreams. Those goals that are far distant, something that we think we would love to have happen, something that is to us incredible. For some people it may be owning a farm, for others winning a Nobel prize or a Gold medal. Some people aspire to greatness, to being noticed, others merely to obtaining a decent livelihood. But we all dream. The question then becomes, will we achieve our dreams? Will we reach for the stars, or merely gaze up at them wishing? There is a danger that comes when we reach for the stars. After all, what if we never get there? The stark reality of gravity may bring us hurtling back down to earth, and that is bound to hurt. It's much easier, much safer, to have two feet firmly planted on the ground of "reality" never leaving, only wishing. But how much less rewarding! There's always the chance that when we make that reach, take that leap, that we'll reach the stars, that we'll grasp them and soar farther than even we had imagined. But in order to do so we have to take the risk. We have to be willing to give up something, maybe a lot of things. We have to be willing to experience times of failure, where maybe we do just come crashing back down, and then we have to be willing to get back up and try again. The vast majority of the time this will most likely be the case. But sometimes, in our leap for the stars, we may just grasp one, but perhaps not the one we had originally intended to. It seems to me that in our pursuit for a dream we will often discover a new one, perhaps completely different from the one we had previously imagined, and we may find that we are indeed content with the realization of that heretofore unimagined dream. The man who goes out to become a doctor may discover that he is perhaps meant to be a teacher. Something he had never imagined, but then he loves it, loves it more than he could have ever imagined, and perhaps more than he could have ever loved being a doctor. This new dream becomes his reality. No longer is he standing, merely wishing for what could be. He soars among the stars, discovering things he would have previously never realized, all because he was willing to take the leap and trust what God may give him. After all, we never quite know where the pursuit of our dreams will take us, but one thing is for certain, in order to soar, we must first make the leap.