Dreamers

Matthew 1:24-25 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

How big is your dream? I mean how big is the idea that God has given you? What effect does it have in what you do and how you act and live? How does this God-dream change how you see life and your future and literally everything? Or has your dream not affected you? Or has it not set the goal in front of you so that you know the direction you need to go in order to fulfill that to which you have been called?

That’s the real question isn’t it? Sometimes dreams have a life-changing effect, and sometimes dreams are pushed out of the way for the more practical. In Joseph’s case, the practical course of action would have been to “get away as fast as possible.” I feel that at times with my God-dream. Sometimes it is too difficult and too hard or taking way too long. At other times, I fear that the money or resources won’t be there, and the dream will die. Sometimes I just don’t want to follow the dream; the cost is too high. All of this must have gone through the mind of Joseph. I can assure you that these thoughts go through my mind about my dream all the time.

So what do we do with these dreams, these God ideas? I believe the answer lies in what Joseph did. There are three actions which he followed, and perhaps we can gain some insight. The first thing he did was to wake up. As easy as that sounds, it is the first step in following the dream. Getting a clear picture of what we have been called to do is like waking up. Wake up dreamer so that the dream journey you have been called to can begin. It’s like getting out of bed on a cold morning. Once you make the first step you know what to do next.

The second was that he did what the Angel of the Lord commanded him to do. He was faithful to the call of God in his life. Perhaps he had a plan or perhaps he did not. What he did, however, was to follow the dream set before him. We know that he took Mary to be his wife. Unpractical as it was and facing the criticism of his family and friends, he followed the dream that was given. Can you think of others like him who decided to follow as well?

The last thing he did was to wait. I can relate with that one very well. I have been waiting for a dream now for at least a year. Not a long time when you put it into perspective, yet waiting is difficult. It’s hard to keep the dream alive when time passes and the prospects look dim. Yet that is what we must do. Persist in believing, continue hoping, and keep on doing!

How big is your dream?