I often run across blogs that mention things they are wishing for:
~ smoother days
~ better pay
~ more time
~bigger houses
~ more coffee
~ kinder family members
~ winning the lottery
~ less stress
~ calmer storms
~ happy children
We all have wishes and dreams. It's fun to dream, isn't it?
What about when dreams don't come true? Reality sets in. Life goes on.
If I've allowed my dreams to become expectations, then I am going to be greatly disappointed.
There is a piece of property that I drive by often that is a dream of mine. It has many acres, a horse barn, a pond, a beautiful bridge, and close enough to the city to not feel out in the middle of nowhere. My dream is is own a large barn to hold special events like weddings, receptions, parties, etc. This property seems like the perfect place. It's my dream. You know, one of the "big dreams."
Even though I know it is just a dream, I found myself yearning for that piece of property over the last few days as my daily drive took me right past it. I've admired and dreamed of that spot on occasion, but not until this week did I realize I was allowing that dream to become a disappointment. Now I have to decide how I'm going to deal with it. Is it wrong to still dream of that place? No, but I have to be willing to accept that it is only a dream. I don't want to become discontented in all of the many blessing we enjoy at our current home. I have to make a choice to accept it as a dream, not an expectation.
Sometimes big dreams are easier to shelve than small wishes.
Discontentment can set in so easily with the small things.
This past week we had just returned from our vacation and reality set in: up each morning and out the door for my kids to go to VBS; broken air conditioner on a 93 degree day; 2 major setbacks on a renovation project; just to name a few. I was really hoping to enjoy a Starbucks coffee and a quiet week. I had to make a choice: allow disappointment to settle in my heart or choose to make the best of a crazy week.
I chose to enjoy the week, whatever came. And guess what? In the middle of all the craziness, I realized that I am living two of my dreams: being a mom and helping someone do a major renovation. I'm so glad I didn't get caught up in the "wishes." I might have missed my dream.
What is one of your "big dreams"?
6 comments:
Your thoughts are all too familiar to me. When expectations (or hopes) become demands, then we have made idols of them. The "things" are good, our attitude toward them are not! Glad you decided to "roll with it" this week. :)
I love to write childrens books and sometimes I start dreaming about seeing them in an actual bookstore, but then I realize how hard it is to get one published and I feel all disapointed...for a moment..because then I just read them to my kids and put them up on the bookshelf and know that they love them and I'll be able to share them with them always.
So true... it is all in the perspective we choose to concentrate on in our lives. God uses our "every day" life to fulfill us in ways we could never dream but we have to give each day to Him. I understand crazy reality weeks. :)
My big dream: to downsize! Don't laugh... it's true. We had a plan. Build a house, live in it for 2 years, sell it and repeat. The goal was to be mortgage free by 40. Hubby is pushing 40 and we've got more debt than we've ever had before. The current house was supposed to have been sold 2 years ago (about when the real estate market went south).
It took a year for me to get out of MY dream/plan and be content with the "big house" and God's current plan/ways.
Eventually the house will get put on the market and hopefully it will sell and we'll still make a profit. But in the meantime, I'm done with wasting my energy on what might have been.
Bloom where you are planted.
Who knew?.....
Love this post.
I can allow myself to get all kinds of caught up in the "what-ifs" and "maybe-sos." But when I take a moment and look at my life, I'm so tremendously blessed. And so grateful that God is working His dreams in me rather than the other way around.
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