I married a dreamer. And in the beginning of our relationship, it bothered me.

A lot.

He was (and still is) full of ideas, hopes, and goals. Big ones. Ones that, in my eyes, were impossible and, quite frankly, childish.

It bothered me because he had something that I had long lost. He had a fire that fueled him, that made him work harder and better than everyone else. He lived each day with passion and purpose, with vision and focus. He had this resilience that couldn’t be shaken by anyone or anything.

Deep down, I wanted that. But weren’t dreams something from fairytales and bad Disney Channel Original movies (ok I can’t lie, I love those movies, all of them. Especially Brink.)?

I thought dreams were for little kids. I thought that, after age 8, you could no longer truthfully answer the question, ‘What do you want to be?”. Because if you still wanted to be a ballerina or an astronaut after the age of 8, then you were crazy and unrealistic. I thought that there was a point in which you had to resign yourself to taking the easiest, safest, and most normal path. Because no self-respecting and responsible adult would actually have dreams, right?

As my friend, the Grinch, says: Wrong-o.

I know many people who have been stuck in this similar mindset that I found myself in, and my question to all of us is: when did we stop dreaming?

What switched inside us that suddenly made us embarrassed of what and who we want to become? Why did we reach a turning point where our dreams seemed silly and insignificant to us?

Was it a fear of failure? Was it discouragement from someone we love and respect? Was it the fear of rejection? Was it the fear of standing out? Was it our insecurity? Was it multiple closed doors? Was it a lack of support? Was it an absence of material? Was it a lack of direction and guidance?

What was it? What caused us to stop dreaming and to start being complacent?

I have my own reasons, maybe yours are different. What I do know is that once I took those hesitations to prayer and sheepishly presented them to the Lord, He shattered my doubts and fears and ignited the flame of mission in my heart once again. Once I allowed myself to dream again, I became relentless in my pursuit.

We are called to be dreamers because God has big dreams for us. And without our response, these dreams will never be brought to fruition. What a tragedy that would be.

It would be a great sorrow because you, friend, have marvelous things to contribute to this world. Your very life is such a gift to us, and you have a particular mission while you’re here that will greatly bless the rest of the world, no matter how small you may feel.

Let us labor, then, against the knee-jerk reaction to put a lid on our dreams, to dismiss them as childish, insignificant, and impossible. I think Jesus’ favorite word is impossible because He enjoys proving otherwise 😉 So let’s run toward our dreams with inspired hearts, knocking down the barriers of self-doubt and discouragement as they come in the hopes of obtaining that satisfaction of knowing that we succeeded in the face of the overwhelming temptation to just give up.

I married a dreamer. And in the beginning of our relationship, it bothered me.

But now, I couldn’t be more grateful, because his influence has awakened in me the still small Voice that once called me to dream and do great things for Him. I don’t want to shirk away from that call, because I know by answering it, I will embark on the greatest of adventures.

Are there any dreams that you have silenced in the past? How did you overcome that? What are your dreams, friends?