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Somewhere Over The Rainbow: For a dream comes through much activity, (Ecclesiastes 5:3 NKJV). It was a young Judy Garland who played the character Dorothy Gale in the movie The Wizard Of Oz. The theme song of that movie was (no, not “If I Only Had A Brain”) “Over The Rainbow.” The first two verses go like this: Somewhere over the rainbow . . . . way up
high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby. The first part of the bridge goes like this: Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. That’s where many of us end up in life and in the church. Somewhere . . .there’s a place better than I’m in now. Somewhere . . . there’s a place where my dreams are fulfilled. Someday . . .I’ll get there. The problem is we have relegated this somewhere to heaven, and the someday to the rapture of the church or we die. But, what about this life? Are we destined to always live between somewhere and someday? Are we saved to live in depression and discouragement, barely making it through until Jesus returns? I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10 NKJV). We’re not supposed to check our dreams at the door when Jesus saves us. He saved us for a reason. What happened to the dreams you had before you were saved? What did you dream of doing? Maybe God changed those or maybe He’s helping you to pursue the dreams you had with a new perspective; a perspective from which He gets the glory. What would you dream of doing if you had no hindrances to your goal? What would you dream of doing if all barriers could be overcome and you could reach that goal? I’d like to be a writer and write something that people would enjoy reading. I’d like to write something that would endure down through the years and see it for sale at Barnes & Noble or Borders. I’d like to make enough income through writing that I had to pay large, quarterly, estimated taxes and fill out a Schedule C for the previous tax year. If you could dream anything, would you dream safe dreams or would you dare to dream something really big? “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain We all need to dream dreams; for all areas of our lives. We must have goals we are working towards other than just making it into heaven. Our Christian experience consists of much more than just three services a week, plus a few extras that seem to contribute more to burnout than to our spirituality. There is a depth to Jesus Christ that is available to whoever will search for it. Sadly, many people will choose not to, content to scratch the surface for what is easily found. I wonder if chickens dream? We must choose to work towards our dreams, incrementally if need be and take large steps when necessary. Never underestimate the power of incrementally pursuing your dreams. A little bit here and a little bit there. We are a product of our choices, to a large extent. We choose to be spiritual; we choose to better ourselves in life; we choose to work on relationships, etc. We can live in the somewhere-someday mentality and never accomplish anything. We’re just coasting through life, letting things happen to us. God is interested in our dreams. He was in Joseph’s. What do you dream of? What do you dare to dream that you might not tell anyone else about? Some people have been in church for years; they’ve heard teaching and preaching for years; what have they done with it? Have they translated hearing into doing? Have they ever dared anything, big or small, for Jesus? And since, for the Christian, everything we do is for Jesus, have we ever dared anything, big or small in any area of our lives? We have been commissioned to go and preach the gospel to everyone (Matthew 28:18-20), but notice Jesus didn’t tell us how to do it. Our gifts, talents and abilities that God has given us are all to be used for the fulfilling of the mission. And He does it differently through each of us. “Always allow God the privilege of working in another’s life differently from the way God has in your own.” - Susan Yates A paradigm is a way through which we view something. It’s the way things are supposed to be, according to our perceptions. In other words, we often see what we want to see according to our view of the world. Why do we have so much trouble dreaming big dreams? Because many times it fundamentally goes against the way we see things, or, our paradigms. I wonder why God chose the age of 20 years old and upward to be the dividing line of those who would not make it into the Promised Land? Could one reason be that the young dare to dream big dreams while those who are older are less inclined to dream and dare? Here’s a question for you. What would you dream of if you dared to dream outside your existing paradigms? What dreams are you going to dream? Or, will you live between somewhere and someday? Decide, today, that things are going to be different in your life. Decide right now. Then dream some big dreams and set some goals to achieve those dreams. Work at those goals, incrementally if necessary and take big steps when needed, contributing to the whole of your life. Let God use the talents and the gifts He’s given you to perform the mission He has given to the church. Dare something for God. Get a new paradigm. Don’t get stuck between somewhere and someday. Dare to dream big dreams.
ninetyandnine.com © 2003, ninetyandnine.com --------- Stephen Cousino was an expert dreamer in classes he considered boring. He is currently trying to recapture his ability to dream and is helped along by those who say in one hour what they could have said in 30 minutes. The father of six children, ages nine to a little over one week, he does dare to dream big dreams in some areas. |
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