We all have hopes and dreams. We all go through times in our lives when we come up with ideas of things that we would like to accomplish in life, places we would like to be in the years ahead. It's a natural human tendency, it seems, to come up with an ideal that we would like to fulfill in our future.
But what happens when the years go by and those dreams never come to fruition? What happens when we find ourselves, years later, in a situation that's so far removed from our ideal that we can only think that we've somehow failed, that we haven't accomplished our life's desire? It can be a very devastating experience.
A friend wrote me the following lines:
"Well, at 40 I'm losing hope that this dream will ever come true, and sometimes I would get upset at God for not helping me to make this happen. So this has been a great impediment in my living a full life. Sometimes I'm unable to be happy in the moment because of these unfulfilled dreams. It's those "why couldn't it have been?", "why didn't it happen for me?" times that rob me of my joy for today. And as much as I know and have read that real peace is internal, I also know for me, that the environment where I spend my time makes a difference."
I try to focus on the fact that I trust God to put me where I'm most effective, where I can do the most good, and where I can learn the most. Getting through the hard times has been much more beneficial to me in the long run than having an idyllic life would have been. I've learned more about what I truly want out of life through the painful experiences in places I didn't necessarily want to be than I have in times when everything's been fine.
I suppose that the bottom line is that all of our dreams are available to us if we're willing to take risks and make sacrifices. Can't afford that summer vacation that you dream of? Where can you make sacrifices? Going out less? Renting fewer movies? Ordering fewer pizzas? Do you wish you lived somewhere else? Find out what it would take to move there, and go. The most important thing to consider, though, is your current situation and where you see yourself going if you stay in it. If you see yourself developing very little in or getting very little from your current situation, maybe it's time you examined those dreams of yours to see where they may be directing you. We've been given dreams for a reason, and much of that reason is to give us something to strive for.
Let your heart guide you--if it tells you to stay, that's where you're supposed to be, and make the most of it. If it tells you to go, then take the risk and make the most of that. If faith in God is part of your life, ask Him for guidance, then listen for the answer; and whatever that answer may be, follow it, for you will be taken care of.
-------Enligtened Soul
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