Your Dreams Are Not Too Big

There is a reason for the dreams that you harbor in your mind from the time you wake up in the morning to the time you pull your blankets over yourself at night. I believe that our dreams are nothing less than Divine ideas that are being born in us and waiting to be lived out by us. What are your dreams? Did you always want to be a painter but instead settled for another career because it seemed too unrealistic? Or maybe it was a pilot, a writer, a business owner. Maybe you've worked at another job for years but your dream is still there in your mind, day in day out. Maybe your dream is to have a loving, successful relationship, maybe kids. But as the years ticked on that seemed unlikely, so you've settled and your dreams have lay dormant.

I believe that these divine ideas wouldn't have been put in you if they weren't achievable. Otherwise, it's as if the Divine is dangling a carrot in front of you, always unreachable.

Why don't we realize our dreams? I think there are at least a couple of reasons. Firstly, while we may dream big, often we don't believe big. Perhaps the word faith has come to mean "believing in the right theological beliefs (whatever those are...)" If this is the case, perhaps faith has become stale for us. But what if, instead, faith meant believing that God lives within you and the dreams he has placed in you can absolutely come true? How exciting would that be? What if God wants what we've wanted all along?

This leads to a 2nd reason why we may not see our dreams realized in our lives. What do we believe about God and the Universe that we live in? If we believe that God is naturally kind of stingy, like a curmudgeonly old uncle, someone who is cheap and whom we have to beg for gifts, then of course we won't expect much from God. Many people - I admit I am one of them - often resort to begging God for things or repeatedly asking, as if God had to be coaxed or is hard of hearing. But I have been learning that God is a good God, more than willing to give us our hearts desire. God is pre-disposed to blessing us. Have you ever at Christmastime watched the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol? When Ebenezer Scrooge wakes up a changed man on Christmas morning, he jumps out of bed and begins to dance wildly for joy. He just can't help himself!

That's the way it is with God. He's bursting at the seams wanting to bless us with good gifts.

How do we open ourselves up to these gifts, to seeing our dreams come true? I think the main way is by changing our thought patterns. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Instead of waking up in the morning and expecting the worst, expect the best! Instead of falling into the thought that "my life has been this way for years, I can't live any other way," change it up and affirm "I am now seeing my dreams come true. My life is vibrant and exciting!" If you and I were to consistently do this (and believe me I really know how hard it is to break years-long thought patterns) what a change we would eventually see!

Finally, another reason why I think we don't see our dreams come true is because for some reason we don't think we deserve it. Maybe we think others deserve to be happy, but not us. Or it could be a case of how we view humanity's relationship with God. If God is a separate being who we view as perfect and holy, but we view ourselves and the rest of humanity as dirty or sinful in nature, then no wonder we may doubt our desires at every turn and suspect that we are undeserving. In my opinion we must strike this far from our minds. I believe instead that God lives within us (Jesus said that the kingdom of God was within) and that each of us are divine in nature. As such we are heirs of all the good gifts that God possesses. Jesus also said that if human parents know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more does God know how to do so.

In closing, I believe that your dreams aren't too big. They are there for a reason. Dream big. Expect Big. Change your mind. Know today that you deserve the very best!

Blessings,

Mark Andrew