Everybody has dreams. Some people have bushels of them, while others have only one or two. Whoever you are and wherever you are you have dreams. Romantics call them reveries or
phantasms of the future, Visionaries call them ideals or visions for their posterity, while Realists call them practical aspirations or goals. You pick your fancy.
I blend in somewhere with all three. I have my romantic revelries, my idyllic ideals and my realistic regime for the future. I want to be married to a pastor and live on a salt water farm and spin my own yarn, press my own cider, churn my own butter and recite Tennyson to my flock of 25 children (how's that for romantic!!). I want to be the funnest
homeschool mom and go on all sorts of outdoor adventures with my children and teach them all about life and what it means to be children of God. I want to adopt as many children as I can (especially little girls from China) and have as many as God will give me (how's that for visionary?). I want to keep healthy, serve people around me and prepare myself for whatever lies in the future. If it is wife and motherhood, than I will be growing in that area through daily helping my mother with her tasks. If it is singleness, then I will still seek to serve my parents, but also take time to learn and build my piano studio (there's the practical).
I'm often tempted to sit and daydream about the future or reminisce the past. It can be addicting and then I become of no use to anyone! I think daydreaming can be a very dangerous thing. The more we think about something, the more our heart becomes set upon it. In this case, I
believe we neglect to
guard our hearts. We often think of that verse in context with romance or relationships with the opposite sex, but I think also applies to our aspirations for the future. The fonder we grow of an idea, the more we take
possession of it and then, we simply expect it to happen, regardless of what the Lord desires for us.
When this happens, we begin to set our stakes on the treasures of this world. And that is not what God wants for His followers.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) Attachment to the things of this world means attachment to the world itself. We want to yearn for the things of heaven.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2) 
Letting go of these prized dreams can be a hard thing. There is a portion of the book Peter Pan (or maybe it's only in the movie, I can't recall) that has stuck with me, because it sort of applies to this whole thing. Mrs. Darling is speaking to her children about their father, who they think is cowardly. She assures them that he is very brave, because he has a store of dreams in a drawer and they sometimes sit together and pull them out, one by one, to look at them. Even when it gets harder and harder to shut the drawer, he still does. It is rather like what we should do with our dreams. Keep them in a drawer and give God the key. When it's time for those dreams to happen, if it ever is, we can let Him pull them out and place them in front of us. That is my aim. My mother challenged me, on my birthday a few days ago, to set some goals for my life. Not the new year resolution type of goals like losing 10 pounds by April, but goals that would be of lasting value. Letting go of our dreams and not expecting to have our rights met, because when you really think about it, what rights do we actually have, is something that will bring a lot of
relief and joy. So one of my goals is to exchange my dreams for God's. To let Him write the script of my life and not resist any longer. I want my actions to have "the seeds of eternity" in them, as Amy Carmichael said. So, I am putting my dreams in a drawer, giving God the key and waiting to see what happens. Through doldrums and ecstasies, I'll be waiting for His plans to unfold!
I blend in somewhere with all three. I have my romantic revelries, my idyllic ideals and my realistic regime for the future. I want to be married to a pastor and live on a salt water farm and spin my own yarn, press my own cider, churn my own butter and recite Tennyson to my flock of 25 children (how's that for romantic!!). I want to be the funnest homeschool mom and go on all sorts of outdoor adventures with my children and teach them all about life and what it means to be children of God. I want to adopt as many children as I can (especially little girls from China) and have as many as God will give me (how's that for visionary?). I want to keep healthy, serve people around me and prepare myself for whatever lies in the future. If it is wife and motherhood, than I will be growing in that area through daily helping my mother with her tasks. If it is singleness, then I will still seek to serve my parents, but also take time to learn and build my piano studio (there's the practical).
I'm often tempted to sit and daydream about the future or reminisce the past. It can be addicting and then I become of no use to anyone! I think daydreaming can be a very dangerous thing. The more we think about something, the more our heart becomes set upon it. In this case, I believe we neglect to guard our hearts. We often think of that verse in context with romance or relationships with the opposite sex, but I think also applies to our aspirations for the future. The fonder we grow of an idea, the more we take possession of it and then, we simply expect it to happen, regardless of what the Lord desires for us.
When this happens, we begin to set our stakes on the treasures of this world. And that is not what God wants for His followers. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) Attachment to the things of this world means attachment to the world itself. We want to yearn for the things of heaven. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2) 
Letting go of these prized dreams can be a hard thing. There is a portion of the book Peter Pan (or maybe it's only in the movie, I can't recall) that has stuck with me, because it sort of applies to this whole thing. Mrs. Darling is speaking to her children about their father, who they think is cowardly. She assures them that he is very brave, because he has a store of dreams in a drawer and they sometimes sit together and pull them out, one by one, to look at them. Even when it gets harder and harder to shut the drawer, he still does. It is rather like what we should do with our dreams. Keep them in a drawer and give God the key. When it's time for those dreams to happen, if it ever is, we can let Him pull them out and place them in front of us. That is my aim. My mother challenged me, on my birthday a few days ago, to set some goals for my life. Not the new year resolution type of goals like losing 10 pounds by April, but goals that would be of lasting value. Letting go of our dreams and not expecting to have our rights met, because when you really think about it, what rights do we actually have, is something that will bring a lot of relief and joy. So one of my goals is to exchange my dreams for God's. To let Him write the script of my life and not resist any longer. I want my actions to have "the seeds of eternity" in them, as Amy Carmichael said. So, I am putting my dreams in a drawer, giving God the key and waiting to see what happens. Through doldrums and ecstasies, I'll be waiting for His plans to unfold!
3 comments:
This is a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing part of your heart with us my friend.
wow amanda, Thank you for sharing ur struggles with fantasizing i tend to do that although i wouldn't go so far to say i would churn my own butter but it was very encouraging to see you growing closer to the one who holds the key.
Thank you! Those words were certainly edifying and challenging.
-Eahwa
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