Remember when we were kids? I remember vividly dreaming of big things. Like what I wanted to be when I grew up, I hoped to be everything from a radio DJ to a criminal attorney. I was completely fascinated with TV shows that featured the lives of policeman and especially “private eyes.” I must have read each of The Hardy Boys mystery novels at least half a dozen times, always living vicariously through Frank and Joe, and hoping that one day I’d follow in their infamous footsteps.
Dreams. Big ones. Dreams that never came true. In fact, most of us are light years away from where we thought our lives would take us. So how did we get here? What happened to our dreams?
The questions remind me of one of the more famous Bible characters. You know the one. Hollywood has made movies about his life. We know how he was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, framed by a would-be lover, thrown into prison and forgotten. But do we remember why? It was all because Joseph had a dream.
In fact, he had two. Neither of which were well received by his family, especially his brothers. After hearing that they were apparently going to bow in submission to their younger brother, his ten older siblings promptly sold him into slavery after barely deciding to spare his life.
Joseph was only seventeen when his life took an unexpected turn - a giant detour that, at the time, was totally unjust and completely unexplainable to his mind. He must have thought at least a million times, “How did I get here?”
While we have the benefit of knowing the end of the story, Joseph was living it day by day. Torn from his home, made a common slave in a strange land, wrongfully accused, and sentenced to life in prison...all because he had a dream.
Have you ever had a dream? I don’t mean the childhood kind where we leap tall buildings in a single bound or sink the last second shot that wins the game. I mean the kind that might be buried deep inside your heart, safely tucked away where it’s safe and secure...and may never again see the light of day.
You know the one. It’s that crazy dream that someone else talked you out of . . . told you it was crazy. Told you that you were crazy. No way it could ever happen. Not in this lifetime. So you heeded such “wise” counsel and did what any practical person would do. You buried it. Buried that hope of one day owning your own business and leaving an inheritance for your kids. Buried that desire to own your own home and be out of debt. Buried that need to have a marriage that really works and a family that cares deeply for each other. Buried that dream of restoring relationships with your parents
or siblings. Buried that dream of...you fill in the blank here.
The amazing thing about shovels is that they work just as well when you need to dig something up, not just to hide something in a hole filled with dirt.
Joseph was sitting in jail, contemplating his lot in life, when he finally learned a valuable lesson. He could either waste away his years wondering what happened to his life or he could begin to bloom where he was planted.
Joseph threw himself into his work inside the prison and soon became second in command. Was it the fulfillment of his dream? Hardly, but it set his heart on the right path. He stopped looking behind him, wondering what could or should have been and focused on what was here and now.
Funny thing about dreams. They can either leave us constantly looking over our shoulder, wondering where we went wrong, or they can propel us forward, driving us to become all that God created us to be. And just when we think we may never see our dreams come true, suddenly everything changes.