“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
I’ve
Been Thinking. . . actually, I’ve been dreaming a bit recently. Dreaming dreams isn’t something we talk much
about unless of course we remember the details of a dream we had the night
before.
One
day after striking out in a baseball game, Charlie Brown says, “Rats! I’ll never be a big-league player. I just don’t have it! All my life I’ve dreamed of playing in the
big leagues, but I’ll never make it.”
To
which Lucy replies, “Charlie Brown, you’re thinking too far ahead. What you need to do is set more immediate
goals for yourself.”
Charlie
Brown senses a ray of hope. “Immediate
goals?” he says.
“Yes,” replies Lucy. “Start with the next inning. When you go out to pitch, see if you can walk to the mound without falling down!”
The world is full of Lucy’s . . . prepared at any moment to suck the life out of your dreams.
People
who capture the adventure of life believe in their dreams – despite the Lucy’s. They speak life into their hopes by
developing action plans that move them in the direction of their dreams. Successful people expect their dreams to be a
preview of coming attractions in their life.
Think
about it. What one great thing would you
dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?
If you were guaranteed success in any one area of your life, what would
that dream consist of? Now, do you want
it badly enough? Are you willing to
boldly begin? Are you willing to pay the
price?
The
philosopher Goethe said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
People, in a way, are like the “Cryptobiotic Tardigrade,” one of the most unique creatures on our continent. It can exist for years in a deathlike state, withdrawn in its spiny shell without water, oxygen or heat. Yet, when it is moistened, the Cryptobiotic Tardigrade springs back to life.
Without
a dream, people’s lives can flatten out, become routine and dull. Like the Tardigrade, they retreat into their
shells and become removed from the adventure of life. Dr. John Maxwell would say, “Their ‘expecter’
had expired.” For them, the rejuvenating
moisture that brings back life comes in the form of compelling dreams.
There
is a big difference between those who dream and those who make dreams come
true. Walt Disney had confidence in his
dream, even though he stood many times at the brink of financial ruin. He was emotionally committed to see it
through and his passion overcame the insurmountable obstacles he
encountered.
Christopher
Columbus, intent on traveling the seas in a less than high tech motor craft,
understood the impact of other people’s expectations and past experience on
lofty dreams. “Nothing that results from
human progress is achieved with unanimous consent,” he said. “And those who are enlightened before the
others are condemned to pursue that light in spite of others.”
People
who make things happen are continually creating new dreams and have the
tenacity to try them out, no matter what others think. Dream makers and achievers recognize they are
responsible for all the obstacles they allow to get between them and their
dreams. They give up all excuses and
make the achievement of their dreams a priority. They not only picture in their mind what they
want, but generate the energy to produce the end result.
Dreams
put life into perspective. Even the
mundane, tedious tasks that fill our day become opportunities to pursue our
dreams. Everything we do can contribute
to the fulfillment of those mental dreams and heartfelt wishes. Without a dream, we struggle to see beyond
today. Life is a repetitive motion. Dreams wake you up, revive your spirit, and
give life new meaning.
You will find the achievements you experience when you’re just marching through life, versus those you encounter when you’re involved with a personalized dream, are astonishingly different. The excitement, infusion of energy, and healthy satisfaction are appreciable byproducts.
Donald
Trump made a comment worth considering here.
“I like thinking big,” he said.
“I always have. To me, it’s very
simple: If you’re going to be thinking
anyway, you might as well think big.”
It’s a tragedy when people don’t think beyond their comfort zone. When that happens, we feel a labored beat of
our hearts and a drying of our spirit.
So
you’ve dreamed many dreams but nothing has happened. Your days are filled with hoping, wishing,
wanting, and thinking, but the dreams fizzle.
This may not be a popular conclusion, but often the dreams you have
realized are the ones you passionately, persistently pursued. Your achievements are the result of a
concentrated effort. When you had an
idea and went after it with all you had, things happened.
Turn
your dreams for the future into reality by continually investing yourself in
the present possibilities. The two will
pull together.
“It isn’t a calamity to
die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars,
but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach.”
Dr. Benjamin Isaiah Mays
