About thirty-five years ago, a friend gave me a small poster in a frame which stated: “May you go for dreams which you can call your own.” The best gift a parent can give a child, or which a friend can give a friend, is not a dream, rather support for the person as he or she goes for dreams which truly are his or her own.
Every single man and woman is unique. We share so much in common, yet we all are special as an individual. Regarding our physical bodies, of the billions of people on this planet, no two people have the same set of fingerprints. Likewise, each person is unique in his or her spiritual heart. All of us have individual gifts. All of us develop individual passions. Thus you need a dream which truly is your own.
What is a dream you have?
(I suggest you write it down on paper!)
When developing dreams, consider these key questions:
What is your passion?
Are you willing to do the preparation?
(Depending on your dream, preparation could take months or it could take years.)
And if you commit to a dream, at every stage you will need the determination to go for it, utter determination.
Now the reality is that going for dreams will often result in much sacrifice, and even some suffering, in this tragically fallen world. The more grand your dream, the more suffering you will probably endure. Perseverance is necessary. Praise be to God, He will enable those who are willing to rely on Him to persevere in carrying out good dreams.
Sins are dream derailers. Be it your own sins, or the sins of others, sins hamper or thwart dreams. A sin never helps a good dream. Flee from sins in your heart all of your days. Seriously. Jesus taught what is moral. You can trust Jesus! His teachings are recorded in Scripture, sacred writings which were inspired by God.
All of us do plenty of wrong things. I have been following Jesus for 35 years, but I still make mistakes. Yet relying on the Holy Spirit day by day, you really will become more like Jesus, who is perfectly loving.
Lastly, your dream may not turn out quite the way you envisioned. That has often been the case with me. What matters is that goodness results. Good dreams will bear good fruit for you and for other people.
I am convicted our caring God wants good dreams to come true for us all. Happiness can result from living a dream, and in the accomplishment of a dream. However, accomplishing a dream alone does not result in lasting joy. What does result in joy? Love.
Ever since turning to Christ, joy has been available in my heart, whether or not my dreams were coming true. My grandest dream has yet to happen, yet joy from God has been in my heart all along, even on days when I did not feel joyful. Joy from God’s true love is independent of personal accomplishments.
As Jesus told His disciples as He was foretelling of His death and resurrection - “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16:22 NIV).
And my love for others is not impacted at all by their accomplishments, rather it is rooted in the true love of Jesus.
How wild that for over 25 years, I have had the same four core dreams: To be a minister for Jesus, to be married, to foster loving family relationships, and to share my writings to tell more and more people about Jesus. Concerning my writing dream, in a year where I encountered much discouragement and experienced terrible hurts, I was blessed during Lent to write a once in a lifetime series which I entitled Seven Statements by Jesus from the Cross. I praise God for having me prepared to write on the pinnacle subject of Christ’s mission. And I am grateful to all of you who read those pieces.
Honestly, when I do these writings, I do so with all of my heart. I may never meet you in this world, yet I am thankful to you for even reading this piece. Thank you.
I said above we all need true love for joy. First and foremost, we all need true love for everlasting life! Jesus loves everyone. And in love, Jesus had a dream. His dream resulted in His passion and mission to save people from the horrendous consequence of our sins. His dream came true as He made the ultimate sacrifice. In His true love for us, Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone. He was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death. And then He was resurrected. Anyone who believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and Lord will have eternal life.
If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I invite you this very day to give your heart to Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to receive Jesus, and eternal life.
May you soak in the love of Jesus this Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
love, Hunter
