sweet dreams

note: i wrote this blog entry july 28th. that evening i got an update that my fellow blogger and friend posted this entry: i have a dream, or do i? check suzie-k's entry out, too!

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there's a saying that goes like this:


"if you love something, set it free. if it comes back to you, it's yours. if it doesn't, it never was."


i think we often associate this with a person or a relationship. and it makes sense, especially before you exchange vows...but i'm sure doing this is painful. unrequited love must be unbearable, and i imagine letting go is scary because there are what ifs involved. the impetus would surely be to hang on, with stranglehold force, when releasing your grip is the better option. hanging on for dear life would surely create resentment for the one loved who wants freedom, but who on the other side wants to take that kind of risk? let go in hopes of getting back? what if that person never comes back? is that a chance worth taking?


well, i was thinking about this saying in relation to dreams, hopes, aspirations. don't get me wrong with my foregoing statements. i am a firm believer in fighting for what you want. if you want something badly enough, you'll make it happen...but admitedly, sometimes you can only fight so much. sometimes you have to take a step back and wait. and waiting is challenging when all you want are answers now.


i have some pretty sweet dreams. every birthday i get a card from my parents reminding me that this is my year. and every year i accept it. i am a very blessed individual, but i have unrequited dreams...dreams i've yet to see fulfilled...dreams that i believe are mine to be realized. dreams i love to dream because i believe they will eventually be realized. and i really do believe this is my year.


i don't know how much i agree with setting my dreams free...letting my dreams go and possibly never seeing them fulfilled. i know we are sometimes vicariously lived through, and become the agent for someone else's dreams coming true, but i think you have to hang on to your own dreams and pursue them. pursue relentlessly. let me interject this, for those looking for something of a spiritual nature: if your dream feels liks a burden at times, that's a little different, because the bible instructs the believer to give your burdens to God to look after. but make no mistake, i think God can look after your dreams, too. think about joseph in genesis 37-41. he had a couple of dreams as a teenager that he wouldn't see come to pass for over a decade...but eventually he would see his dreams fulfilled. between the ages of 17 and 30 he would also have the opportunity to interpret other people's dreams and see them come to pass...but for 13 years he waited to have his own realized. and he didn't let go. i think there's a lesson there.


the way i see it, martin luther king's famous speech was "i have a dream," not "i had a dream." have. present tense. what if he had let his dream go? what if joseph had let his dream go? think of any revolutionary, student, explorer, scientist, mother. what if they had let their dreams go?


don't let go of your dreams. don't let anyone steal them from you. they're yours. if you dreamed them, believe them. having to wait doesn't make them any less valid. and if they're good, and won't hurt anyone else, then trust they're from God and not just some fanciful pipedream. patiently pursue them. that might mean waiting, but as my pastor says, "wait for God's timing in your life! many things that will be a blessing to you later on can be a curse to you now if you get to them too soon." so don't lose hope; take heart and have faith. God has your dreams in His hand. He hasn't forgotten about them.

david said, "my times are in Your Hand" (psalm 31:15). i think this includes my dreams. the knowledge of that is sweet.