Growing up at some point in our formative years we were told to dream big, be the best, shoot for the stars or something of that nature. For most of us these are mantras left unrealized. Life happens, responsibility looms large and at some point we relegate those dreams to childhood fantasies.
I was always stubborn enough to assume my dreams were within reach but rarely ambitious enough to reach for them. I have been trying to work on that bit the last several years. This is not because I have become braver, but because with age comes wisdom refined through life experiences. I remember coming to a pivotal crux in life. I was trying to decide my next steps and thinking to myself, I cannot take that path because it comes way too easy for me and that is not how life works….Right?
Is living the dream really as far off as the stars? Or maybe our perspective’s been a little off. We all have something that we do well. We all have those things that trip our trigger and gets us excited. For me I love creating, analyzing, reading, etc. Many of these skills come natural to us. It is almost like we were wired to be inclined towards these things. It does not mean that we are experts, but these are things we are able to naturally cultivate in our lives.
Every single human being on this planet has some set of skills. It is a gift of God, and gifts aren’t given with the intent to not be opened and utilized. Jesus tells of a parable where a master gives his servants a number of talents each and most chose to take what they we're given and multiply it but one chose to bury his. The one that buried his was deemed wicked for what he did NOT do. We might think, why would he chose to do that? Honestly, I think this servants action is more reflective of how we often go about investing our talents.
Upon drafting this blog, I wrote a list of things that I like to do as well as things that I am good at. It was not easy, because I had to overcome the bias of only listing the things I am good at. It was a practice in acknowledging the things I am inclined towards but may not have done as good of a job of cultivating. I know that I have been found guilty of burying my talents. This has not only been a disadvantage to myself but to my community. Writer Annie Dillard shares that anything we have that we keep to ourselves eventually becomes lost even to ourselves. We are a gift meant to be shared.
We are all unique in who we are and how we function, but unfortunately for many of us we walk around like square pegs in round holes. What if we recognized our dreams for what they really are? A fundamental longing to see the fulfillment of what has been placed on the inside of us brought to life. It is like a pen being used as a food utensil who realizes that the ink sitting inside of it was meant to flow out and communicate things great and small. Your dreams realized are not as far off as you may assume.
You change the world when you soar. Your dreams realized in its proper context is the missing puzzle piece in God’s good plans for you and I and this world. When you are walking in your giftings and hence following your dreams, your soul is fed, people are blessed and God is glorified as He sees His child bloom into the beautiful potential He has destined you for. Don't be afraid to do what you were meant to do.
Hello, thanks for the lengthy comment!....if you think about the logic of that statement (God dosent call the equipped) it would seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Why would God create us with these abilities that he systematically never has us use...what's the point then? If there is a letter to be written why would we bypass our perfectly good hands to then stick a pencil in our mouths to compose the letter? It is true that in our weakness God is shown strong. in reality it is a combination of both. Moses, David, and Paul etc. Are perfect examples of this combo. Moses was the product of the Egyptian royal court, wandered the desert for years…
I like this! I wonder, however, how it fits with the whole 'God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called'. Christians often use that to convince others that they need to serve in a certain capacity, despite how the person feels about it. I understand you are not saying each of us needs to do what is easy for us but I think sometimes others stress we need to do what we really don't want to because if there is a need God has obviously called you/me/whomever to it, despite how we feel about it.
I recently had a conversation with a fellow Christian (not a newborn!) who, though she would love to be a Sunday School/youth teacher/leader, wondere…