Lesson #1: Pursue Your Dreams
When our daughter gets an idea in her mind, she executes it. She doesn't stop and ponder all the reasons why her idea may not be feasible or obtainable. She's an optimist, so she initially assumes that whatever she wants to accomplish is achievable.
 |
| Our Dreamer |
And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
I had so many dreams and aspirations as a child. While some of those dreams were selfish, some were God given. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, it becomes clearer which dreams are from the Lord and really worth pursuing.
Perhaps my engineering profession hampered my ability to dream. One of the keys to successful engineering is to perform failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) repeatedly throughout the design, planning, and management phases of product development. All possible causes of failure must be considered and then designed out of the product. Without FMEA, bridges fall, products break, and processes fail. While FMEA is critical in product or process development, it can turn into a crippling fear of failure if we apply it to our hopes and dreams, looking only at failure potential instead of possibilities for fruitfulness. To live life to it's fullest, faith must enter the equation.
Over the years as life has gotten busier and my focus has been turned toward the constant and immediate demands of parenting young children, I haven't found much time for dreaming. Life experiences have made me more pragmatic and cautious. Whenever an aspiration does cross my mind, I often consider every obstacle and my shortcomings instead of looking at promising possibilities.
Our daughter's big idea last week was to begin a "Save the Earth" club. I have no idea what motivated her to start the club except that she briefly mentioned Genesis 1:28-29 which talks about God giving man stewardship responsibility over the earth. Within a day of coming up with this idea, she had developed a club roster, sign-in sheets for meetings, and club rules. She invited a number of friends and neighbors to join the club and left me this note asking me to be the club leader.
Recently, her creative aspirations have inspired her to establish a Girls' club, begin writing a "book" (entitled The Fox Girl) which she plans to publish (hum...we'll see about that one), learn to score points on a 9' basketball goal (I wrote about that here), develop all sorts of recipes, and begin learning to play several instruments. Her latest dreams are to become an animal rescuer and to live on a horse farm. While she cannot convince her parents to relocate to a horse farm, she did at least inspire us to go over budget on her birthday party so she could invite 19 of her closest friends to a horse farm for pony rides. She sees possibilities, not obstacles. No one can rise to low expectations, and she rises best when the expectations are her own.
As a result of observing my daughter, I have begun dreaming again. At first, I listed in my mind all the reasons why I could never pursue such crazy dreams, but the Lord, in His mercy, has sent me an army of encouragers who will not let me totally dismiss these outlandish aspirations. The Lord has even begun to open a few doors. My perspective is beginning to resemble childlike faith again. Now, it seems to me that the only obstacle that matters is the will of God. If my aspirations are from Him and for His glory, anything is possible. I cannot fully express how much joy has flooded my heart since I have allowed myself to dream again.
 |
| Remembering my own childhood dream of owning a horse |
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment