Dreams and Dreamers

I’m a dreamer.  As such, I face disappointments because the dreams never quite come true.  Maybe I’d do well to remember a quote from C.S. Lewis, “Once a dream has become a fact I suppose it loses something.  This isn’t affection:  we long and long for a thing and when it comes it turns out to be just a pleasant incident very much like others.”  This is a sober thought because it reminds me to question if my dreams are my god of if God is my dream.  By this I mean am I dreaming the vision God has for my life or am I merely indulging in distracting daydreams?  And what does it mean when the dreams don’t quite come true?

Perhaps Moses is a good example to draw from.  Whether he’s categorized as a dreamer or not, he still had powerful visions from God that drove his overall motives.  These motives fueled his thoughts and dreams of fulfilling God’s vision and therefore, I think, he was a dreamer. 

But an interesting thing in reading Exodus is I sense that things never quite turned out the way Moses was thinking they would.  Pharaoh didn’t just load the Hebrews up with a bunch of stuff and then let them go; he instead made things quite difficult for Moses and the Hebrews. He’d make promises then break them.  He’d repent then almost immediately change his mind.  And when he did let the Hebrews go, he again changed his mind and pursued after them.

The Israelite stint in the desert wasn’t exactly as Moses had pictured it either.  He and the Israelite nation wandered in a hostile wilderness for a very long time, eating stuff like manna and then an over-abundance of quail and also getting water from a rock.  On top of that and amid other difficulties, Moses didn’t even get to enter into the Promised Land, Joshua had that privilege.  Even so, Moses never gave up; he clung to his God-ordained dreams of Israelite freedom. 

The disciples also seemed to be dreamers, otherwise, why would they have remained committed all their lives to a vision that ended up in martyrdom?  They could see the positive impacts of genuine Christian faith.  They also saw and experienced the suffering that came with it, but the vision, the dream of success, overpowered their fear.  They could see beyond tomorrow and next week to a horizon that stretches for generations.

I can’t help but think that not only was their dreaming God-inspired, but their ability to have a hope that overcame the fear was Holy Spirit empowered as well.  “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  

But like Moses, their dreams didn’t play out as I think they originally thought they would.  They were thinking that Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman government and establish an Israelite rule right there in Jerusalem.  Obviously, the revolution Jesus instigated was a revolution of the heart, not of the government. 

Maybe my dreams aren’t turning out exactly as I had planned either; in fact, they’re not in most every category.  But I still have a strong pull these dreams are purposed and are fuel for ongoing hope and action.  But the temptation is to give up on them and succumb to failure.  To counter this, I look to these biblical examples, wipe my tears away and pray; and then keep moving.  “Do what you can do, and pray for what you cannot do” (St. Augustine). 

So what’s the take-away here?  I believe having dreams is good, provided the dreams themselves don’t become our God.  As we continually and honestly share our dreams with God via prayer, and listen and apply His direction, then I say, “Dream on!”  And to quote C.S. Lewis again, “For broken dreams the cure is, dream again and deeper.”