We were like giddy dreamers
Whose dreams had actually come true.
(Everyday Psalms, Psalm 126, page 297)
OK, let’s be honest here. Most of our hopes and dreams tend to be pretty small and self-centered. I know mine are.
I tend to dream about my next vacation; the next record I want to buy; what improvements I want to do to the house; what job would be better than my current one; or some other thing I want to buy or activity I want to do. And it’s important to talk with God about them. If I don’t, then I basically claim the smaller details of my life as my territory, untouched by God. I give myself a free pass to do whatever I want as I follow my cravings for comfort and pleasure. I think, “Why bother God with such trivialities?” But that reduces God. He’s big enough to deal with the smallest details and big-hearted enough to care.
But my real hopes and dreams, these are especially important to share with God. And what I mean here are the things that I truly stake my hopes on, the things I draw meaning and purpose from. These are things that touch on identity, on how I think about myself and how I find my place in the world.
When Marva Dawn’s boyfriend proposed marriage to her, she didn’t say, “Yes.” She didn’t say, “No,” either. She said, “Give me a week. I need to call together some people from my community who know me so they can pray with me about it.” It’s not the answer most guys are looking for! But Marva wanted to make sure such an important decision was thoroughly prayed through. She even included another man in the prayer group who also wanted to be married to her … Despite the awkwardness of it, this was essential. As he prayed with the rest, he came to agree that Marva should marry Myron instead of him. This was a sign to her that the decision was thoroughly prayed through.
While Marva’s example may seem extreme, it stands in contrast to how casually many of us make major life decisions. But before we even get to the making of decisions, prayer helps us to articulate our hopes and dreams. Because truth be told, I often don’t know my own heart and praying helps to reveal what’s going on inside of me.
Like Marva, pulling my community into my praying about my hopes and dreams is always best. But whether we do that or not, there’s a whole conversation with our Lord to engage in about these deep-seated aspects of our lives. As we do so, we are pulled out of ourselves. And as that happens, we are drawn from our personal, me-sized dreams for ourselves and into God’s dreams for the world. Our hopes and dreams may not be nearly as lofty as God’s dreams, but as we engage in conversation with him about them, we start to find how they fit into his dreams.
Having my hopes and dreams fit into what God is doing in the world helps me to relax. Because even if I don’t accomplish everything I set out for myself, I know whatever I do takes part in God’s world-sized purposes which won’t fail.
As I pray my hopes and dreams, I know God won’t laugh at me because of how silly they might be. At the same time, he won’t rubber-stamp them, saying, “Sure. Whatever you want. Go do it.” He will take me and my dreams seriously without coddling me.
Prayer: So many of my dreams are me-sized, far too small for what you’ve created and saved me for. But here they are. Receive them. And let me know what you think about them. In the process, Lord, expand my hopes and dreams to match yours for the world that I might get in on what you’re doing. In Jesus. Amen.