"Don't you have any dreams?"
It was a question asked by a prying, concerned relative. My children had trouble responding. It was foreign to them to think in such a way.
I used to practice the mantra of this age; have a dream, pursue it, live your life for it, make God agree with you about it.
But none of us lives according to this silliness anymore. We just about ruined our lives and the lives of our children with this rebellious, selfish, futile thinking. Pursuing "dreams" may be popular in church culture, but it is NOT conducive to building Christ-like character.
Christ was not about His dreams, He was about His Father's business. His greatest joy and fulfillment came from surrending His will in favor of the Father's. This is the way to true joy and fulfillment.
Our family verse is Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heartThat's why this post from Holy Experience was so striking to me. She writes about her heart-wrenching experiences while visiting families who live on the dump in Guatemala City. She is looking for evidences of God, then she finds Him:
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
We ask them about dreams, do they have dreams for their children?
What are your dreams for your children when you live in a dump? What are your prayers? What is your hope in all this decaying mess? What is His house number? Is the tomb really empty?If only in America we were so rich with such great piety and faith--but we are poor beggars in comparison.
I can’t imagine this either, how he’s going to answer. He’s a father living on a garbage heap.
His black eyes circle all of ours.
“It doesn’t matter to us what our children grow up to become or do.” His voice is gentle, certain. I lean forward, praying he will still dream. Please, still pray. Even if…
And he does and the most important of all and I didn’t see it coming.
“All that matters is that they follow the Lord, that they live only for the Lord.”
Where did all this flooding light come from?
My chin wobbles hard and I let’s go. It doesn’t matter what garbage heap you live on, we all recycle only this, this the only dream prayer of all the filthy ragged ones on this circling globe.
The truth is, we are all living on a dump, the dump of sinful, filthy humanity, and the devil has used us all up and thrown us away. We are cosmic scroungers surviving on scraps and refuse. If you believe anything more about yourself, you are deceived. Ask God to open your eyes to the reality of your life. Someone once said, "Someone who deserves nothing should be thankful for anything".
We swore off such humanistic, futile thinking some time ago. What does it matter what our goals are? What really matters is what God has for us, and He often doesn't reveal this to us until we need to know--or He shows it to us on the way, or maybe He doesn't share with us at all, and so we trust.
This is the adventure, this is the fulfillment of a lifetime of heart's desires. To walk with God, to attempt to be like Enoch until we are so close--God takes us up...
Posts
This post is amazing and right on! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this. Yes! My husband and I are finally and truly coming to the place where we can say that our goal or dream for our children is to simply follow their Creator. We don't always remember this, but when we forget and let the world or even the Church cloud our thinking, God gently reminds us of where our hearts should be. I remember growing up in a Christian home, but I was always told that I needed to know what I wanted to do. I needed something to "fall back on", so with those words and the influence of the public schools, I put my heart's desire of being a wife and mother on hold for a while to pursue my dreams. I'm not against extra training to enhance the gifts God gives us, but when that takes us away from what we should be focused on, it means nothing. Thank you again. This is where we need to be.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Thanks for writing this. It's inspiring. Lisa~
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for this post! I have had this happen to me by well meaning relatives as well...
ReplyDeleteI came to the same conclusion privately a decade ago when I surrendered my dreams, goals, etc. to God. He took me seriously, or perhaps I should say-He expected me to take HIM seriously about obedience and holding on to Him alone when my life seemed to get turned upside down and inside out several times in a row! It has definately deviated from the 'plan'-well, my plan and my relatives always image protecting and promoting plans...
I was told if I were following God's plan I would see confirmation of that in my 'dreams' being fulfilled and success and wealth and such would automatically follow, but you know...that never happened. In fact, I lost my first baby, my husband was so badly injured in the military overseas that he could not return back to serve(his life dream,kaput) and we were unemployed and homeless, living with his parents while he recovered. ( We discovered what generous and dear people they were through that time-so unexpected blessings!)
The Lord has allowed me to be disappointed in myself, people, this world so often, I believe, so that I will have more occasions to turn to Him, learn from Him, and excercise faith in Him...I know Him in ways I think I would have missed if I had not had to walk the dark valleys.
Sorry for the lengthy comment-and thank you for this blog! It is such a blessing to so many!
Hugs, Sunny
I know someone who had a dream to be a professional dancer- we live on Long Island an hour away from NYC- so she majored in dance in college while teaching children to dance. After marrying and having a daughter(2) that season(desire, dream) of her life has changed but she still has the student loans. I pray for her to know Jesus-she also has different friends now.
ReplyDeleteWe have discovered that when you live by faith, you often aren't even aware of when or how God is using you. A word here or there, a kind deed on the spur of the moment, who knows what, can alter the entire course of another person's life. You have been used by the Lord totally unaware. It has happened to us. I have decided that many of us have read too many books about other persons' lives that, of course, are written from hindsight. We think our course should be mapped out so we can feel good about it and know our "purpose" in life. Like you said, it is enough to follow the Lord day by day, even moment by moment.
ReplyDeleteWe have been to the 'dumps' in Guatemala City when we adopted our two boys. The people are literally living on the cliff-side in tin houses overlooking a filthy river. That's because you don't have to pay for real estate if it is vertical. The people in Guatemala City turn a blind eye to the human life here. They don't consider them Guatemalans. They may not even consider them human. You cannot get a job if you list your address from this area. You might not survive the day if you don't have the "right" tattoo.
ReplyDeleteIn an area called "Il Luminata" one of the young missionaries, Ashley, took us in to see the area. It is an area that a 'gringo' would never normally enter, and literally not expect to emerge alive. Ashley has helped to found one of the first Churches there, in an area filled with evil. In the stolen power lines that criss-cross above your head as you walk through, almost everywhere you go in there are stuffed Spider Man dolls. My daughter pointed this out, and Ashley informed us that to them, Spider Man is a sign of the devil. Those stuffed dolls were a symbol that the area was ruled by a gang who pledged their souls to Satan. We were only able to venture in with Ashley as she was 'protected' by former gang members who converted to Christianity.
Murder and rape are daily occurrences there. People lie in pools of blood on the street. And if you look too long, they will shoot you too.
When it rains, many of the houses and people get literally washed out into the river in a mudslide. Sometimes they live, sometimes they don't.
It is an amazing and eye-opening and gut-wrenching experience to go through there. If you ever do it, you will never come out the same.
It is also amazing to see Christian Churches lighting up little fires of Faith right there on Satan's doorstep. God works in wonderous ways.
Thank you for sharing the post. I could write a book about my one small experience about it, while there are people who live it every day.
As we were departing Guatemala, Ashley was moving from her 'safe' apartment in the city to live among the people in Il Luminta.
Ann's posts from her trip to Guatemala are heart-wrenching and moving. She is an amazing woman. Your words added further weight. It was a beautiful post.
ReplyDeleteHello Sherry!
ReplyDeleteThis is SO true I just love to ready you!
Débora
many blessings
I had the same thoughts on reading Ann's post. That is what it all comes down to. The "problem" is, no one outside of the faith will ever understand that kind of logic - and for that reason we will continue to be a "peculiar people" in this world.
ReplyDeleteHi,this is my first comment. I've probably been reading for about a month and reading lots of your older entries, too. I have enjoyed it so much. I love popping in for a few minutes to come and visit your world. Is been a blessing to me. I have been encouraged at times and convicted at others, but all to God's Glory. So I just wanted to come out of the dark and say thanks: from another homeschooling mom and follower of Christ.
ReplyDeleteGREAT post! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteHey! I just received notice about our missionary friend, Ashley Williams, who toured us around Limonada (sorry for the mis-spell in the earlier comment)! She is starting her own ministry down in the Guatemala City dump!
ReplyDeleteHere's the link announcing it:
http://blog.foreverchangedinternational.org/2010/10/07/annoucement-excitement-for-ashley-williams/