No Wasted Dreams
[Monthly Columnist – Rebekah Snyder – I always appreciate her brutal honesty and child-like faith. I wonder, though, has anyone ever told you that your dreams were a waste of space? Be encouraged today!]
According to my co-worker, my dreams amounted to a wasted life.
When I first decided to abandon everything else in order to pursue my writing dream, a co-worker decided to shower me with statistics of writers who actually “make it” in the “real world.” While his words were certainly not encouraging, I could accept them as his way of showing concern. But then he felt the need to inform me I was screwing up my life.
That hurt.
It was the first time my dreams met opposition, but it certainly would not be the last.
When we dreamers set out with a plan to conquer the world, it isn’t long before we discover that the world fights back.
And we struggle to wrap our minds around that because it wasn’t how it happened in our dreams. We had life all mapped out, but we never left room for reality–until it came crashing in to destroy our carefully set foundations like an ocean wave rushing over a sandcastle.
We immediately set to work shaping bridges and towers, but never anticipated the tide.
And when our dreams lie in ruins, it’s easy to believe the people like my co-worker who would warn us of wasted dreams.
When nothing is going according to plan, it’s easy to believe we were wrong altogether. So here’s something you need to take hold of when the doubts come flooding in like ocean tides (because they will flood, my friend, they will flood):
No life is wasted when it is spent wholeheartedly seeking God. It isn’t.
Because we were created to walk in harmony with Him. Even when nothing is going as planned, we rest in the assurance that this is the journey God has for us. We delight in the time spent with Him.
No matter how great your dream, it will never be everything you wish and hope for it to be. And that’s okay.
That’s the kicker. You have to learn that it’s okay for things to not work out according to your imaginings. Because life, with all its ebbs and flows, has a way of waking us up.
When I first set out to become an author, I didn’t anticipate the journey.
I didn’t know it would take me two years to take my first book from start to finish. I didn’t realize I’d be bouncing back and forth between projects. I didn’t consider that there are parts of the writing journey that are absolutely no fun.
But God has been faithful through it all.
Even on the days I’m sitting in tears because nothing is working out according to plan. In fact, those are generally the days when I realize that, while this author thing may not be all it’s cracked up to be, it is worth it.
Because whether or not it is everything I imagined it would be, writing is my dream.
I cradled it.
Cherished it.
Nurtured it.
And willed it into being.
I’m an author.
And I’m writing words that I love. And I’m writing words that I hate. And I’m striving to weave words more effectively and speak truth more freely. And I’m learning—always learning—that sometimes the things we didn’t anticipate are the best things of all.
Because my dream–it’s bigger than I am.
In many ways, it’s not my dream at all. Many, many years ago, in a place I can’t quite recall, Someone breathed this dream into being and said,
“Here, Rebekah, it’s yours. And it may not always be glamorous. And it may not always be easy. But you’re going to shape it, and it’s going to shape you. And you and Me, together, are going to make it happen.”
That, to me, is the most beautiful part of God-breathed dreams.
You don’t have to pursue them alone; you just have to continue on the journey hand-in-hand with the One who speaks your dreams into being. And as long as you do that, you’ll be able to tell the critics that yours was a life well lived.
You were happy.
You were whole.
You were His.
Rebekah Snyder is screwing up her life by the world’s standards and loving every minute of it. While her latest project has not yet found a home in the publishing world, she continues to share pieces of her dream at www.beyondwaiting.com.
[Photo: puuikibeach, Creative Commons]
