After some questions about the quote in my last post, I'm going to quote the whole paragraph so that you can think about it in the right context.
"When writer Cheryl Renee Grossman said, "I dream, therefore I become," she was getting to this very point. When you take away a dream, you break the human heart. Without our dreams, we lose touch with who we are.
We end up hollow and vacant, going through the motions of a life, but never living it with love."
I was never good at footnoting - page 79, "You matter more than you think" by Dr. Leslie Parrott Zondervan
6 comments:
I totally agree. It's something I've told many couples who ask their loved ones to give up a big dream. I tell them that to ask them to give up their big dream is as detrimental to their health as losing their spouse would be. It slowly kills you inside until you're an empty shell walking around. Our dreams help define who we are, and to have them stolen from us, that is one of the worst things, if not the worst, that anyone can ever do to another. Don't be afraid of the dremas of those you love, be more afraid of the costs if you talk them out of that dream.
i agree with you esther but you're using "married people" love as an example. i was thinking that anytime you hear someone say "well that's stupid!" in response to a person's ambitions, that would be killing or chipping away at the dream.
You did say that this was a discussion, so with that in mind, here are some of my thoughts.
I think that it totally depends on what the dream is and if the dream is influenced by and/or given to you by God. I think that God is (and should be) the "giver of dreams". To dream to do or be anything in isolation is a difficult, and I would dare say, impossible road. And the dream may cost more than you expected to pay. But, if the source of your dream is God, thankfully, you can know that the end will be rewarding and exactly what you needed. I also think that a dream can change along the way, and it is still valid. It's just that you may not have discovered it unless God directed you down the other path first.
And, I don't think that you can become anything of substance on your own, without God's promptings and direction. So, to say "I dream, therefore I become.", sounds egocentric to me, and makes me nervous of the results of this mindset.
However, I think that if this statement is actually refering to HOPE, then I think that you need hope and optimism to help you trust God for the future, and, too, sometimes just to get through the day.
And, it is God who can provide that counsel and comfort when a dream is derailed for whatever reason. The reasons why it happens and the ways to have healing are many, so I won't go into specifics, but life sucks sometimes. This doesn't mean that our life ceases to have meaning...it just takes a while to catch our breath, heal, and trust God to continue to bring it all together. Our "dream" without God may be over, but our dream with God can never be. He just hasn't show us the rest yet. We can trust and hope in the journey and our process of developing along the way.
Debie
wow debie! when you said you had some thoughts, you were right!
i like how you put that first part about what your dream is and if it was given by God.
when i read this, i was reading it with the whole chapter in mind about how you can make a difference in lives around you. so the perspective that i took was about hope. if i don't dream of anything at all or 'small dreams', then what hope do i have? or how will i be able to impact people if i don't have any hope at all.
I know I'm late.. but can I take part in the discussion too? :)
I do agree with Debie on this one, that the dreams we have definitely need to be "sifted", for lack of a better word. My dream, for example, to become a solid-gold dancer, will probably never come to fruition (and I'd already picked out my hot pants! Darnit!).
We've all had derailed dreams for one reason or another, some small, some big, but there always seems to be a reason down the road for them not coming to pass, that we eventually realize when we've gotten past the crushing disappointment phase. For example: It's good that I didn't become a solid-gold dancer, because I'd constantly have to be watching my weight. And I just have to have pizza. There's no question.
But dreaming is important! Dreaming is what keeps us going, and when my 6-year old student Vivian told me that she wanted to be the first female president of Korea, I envied her ability to dream big, and I have no doubt we'll be seeing her on the telly someday.
Yes, that was random, but I had to add it anyway ;)
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