Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Leap…the net will appear.” (Unknown)
A word of encouragement for each of you and for the music within you.
As I sat there looking within and waiting for the reality of a new day to arrive, I realized I have a sack-full-of-them. Dreams. That seems to happen a lot—that looking-within—in moments of quiet that you never have time to do in moments of activity.
Maybe that’s why we tend to stay so busy—it’s a hard thing to stop and look within. To be honest with what we see, and what we need to do and be about. Yet it’s those candid moments of introspection, and the commitment to do something about what we see, where the quality of our tomorrows begins to be defined.
I’ll bet you have your own sack-full of them as well. Dreams, that is. So what in the world are you and I waiting for? Why do we continue to just carry our sacks-full-of-dreams around with us? Perhaps we can take encouragement, inspiration and challenge to do something more with them than simply carry them, from this one life.
He was felled by an assassin’s bullet and died on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. The autopsy revealed that he had the heart of a sixty-year-old. He was only thirty-nine. That may happen when you act on the dreams planted in your heart. But by acting on the dreams he had gathered up in his sack, he began to change the face and heart of a nation and world.
Our dreams may not require that we hold a mirror before the world to show it a face of prejudice, injustice, discrimination and unspeakable hatred, but following the example of Martin Luther King, Jr. as to his dreams, our dreams also will require action.
Without action, our dreams and good intentions will die within us, and the reasons we were created to live at this time, for this world, with these gifts, abilities and passions will never reach fulfillment. The music we were meant to play will never be heard.
What dreams do you have that you still carry around? The bag has to be getting unbearably heavy. Dreams for happiness, security, family, peace in relationships and the world, an end to injustice in your community, or for brighter lives for those living nearby or far away.
Perhaps you hold a dream to do something you may not ultimately be good at, but the fulfillment in knowing you tried will be exhilarating. Perhaps it’s a career change. That’s scary enough just thinking it, saying it, let alone doing it. But “what if” you never tried? And even if it didn’t work out the way you hoped, you would still be able to check just one more thing off your list so you won’t have to look back and say—“I wish I had done that.”
Perhaps you hold dreams to see your children or grandchildren or godchildren succeed in following theirs. Or perhaps you hold a dream to do that one thing which others have discouraged you from doing, and have characterized as silly or a waste of time. I wonder why it is we give others the permission to color and control our world. And I wonder what in the world we are waiting for?
So here’s the deal as we step into another brand new day, and another brand new year. Step out into those dreams you have carried around for too long.
List them.
Share them with someone else.
Permit them to hold you accountable to following them.
Leap, and who knows…the net may appear.
We may not be recognized by history as having been the world-changer like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, by lifting the yoke of oppression from an entire group of God’s children. But we will never know what might occur if we never try.
And what if we changed the life of just one, and maybe another, and another. And what if one of those turned out to be another Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. I have a dream. You have a dream. Maybe many.
So, what are we going to do with them?
So, what’s next?
Dream? Good. Now step out!
In His Name—Scott
