We all have dreams of things we’d like to accomplish: places we’d like to go, maybe a book we want to write, or a landscape to paint, or a course we want to take, or well, you get the idea. There could be things that would help someone: work in a charity shop once a week, read the prayers in church, visit the sick or elderly.
Circumstances can prevent us from fulfilling our dreams, but for those that would be possible, are they still “out of bounds”?
What stops us? Most of us find someone to blame. We would do it, go there, try something new, but this someone’s reaction, response, or criticism stop us. Are they really stopping us, or are we afraid of what they will say or how they will react? Or are their past responses to our efforts still ringing in our ears years later?
One woman told me that she had always wanted to write a book, but when she was young, her father said, “Be quiet! You don’t have anything worth saying.” So she never trusted herself to express her thoughts or opinions. Now in her 60s, she believes that God spoke to her to write a book, and she discovers that her father was wrong – she does have things worth saying.
Another friend said that she was dyslexic and her teachers and school-mates thought she was stupid (which she is NOT). When, at the age of 55 she decided to write a book, she kept hearing their voices and seeing the sneers on their faces. A battle raged in her mind over every page of her book. Much to her delight, she has sold copies of her book around the world.
I believe that a high percentage of us blame the person who spoke those debilitating statements. The accusations were not true, but we believed them because the people saying them were bigger, older, or more important than we were. Listen to your thoughts sometime when you think about pursuing a dream you’ve had a long time. Are these thoughts someone else planted in your soul and they have grown to a hedge that keeps you hemmed in?
“I’m not smart enough.”
“I’m not gifted enough.”
“Everyone will think I am weird.”
“I always blurt out the wrong thing.”
“I never know what to say.”
“I don’t know how to go about it.”
“I don’t have the money.”
With one or more of these excuses, embedded long ago, we write ourselves off.
There’s a story in the Gospel of John, chapter 9, where the disciples ask Jesus, “What caused this man to be born blind, was it his sin or his parents’ sin?” Sounds like one of those searches for an easy answer to a difficult or unexplainable issue. Jesus told them that it wasn’t a cause-and-effect problem — it wasn’t anyone’s fault — but an opportunity to see what God can do.
And then Jesus went on to say that he is the light of the world and as long as his light is shining, nothing should stop us from making the effort to bring glory to God.
So here we are saying, “It’s my fault that I cannot do that because I am ….” And Jesus says, “As long as my light is shining in the world, it’s enough to jump in and see what God can do.”
There is no excuse or reason to sit back and do nothing if Jesus’ light is shining in the world.
Is fear of someone’s reaction stopping you? Face that fear, and then step over it, and see what God can do.
Don’t feel smart enough? Give something a try and see what God can do.
Don’t feel gifted enough? Use the gifts you have and then see what God can do.
Don’t ever know what to say? Try just listening to people and see what God can do.
It takes courage to stand up, look that “yeah but” in the face, and then turn and walk away. But it is only way to be free and to move towards fulfilling those dreams.
I delight in the Lord; therefore, God has placed desires in my heart
and He gives me the power to accomplish them.
(Psalm 37:4)
Molly Deatherage 