1/13/09 What's your dream?

"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here. This is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin'! This is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'." -Pretty Woman :)

I was inadvertently challenged the other day by a deceptively simple question: What's your dream? Though of course I have the concept of dreams and goals for my life floating around in my head, this question caught me off guard. I wasn't exactly sure how to answer, and that bothered me.

Over the past few days I have been praying and thinking a lot about how I would concisely answer this question. One thing really came to mind, something that I've loved for as long as I can remember: writing.

When I was in first grade, each student was given a single sheet of lined manila paper ("vanilla" paper to my 7 year old mind) on which to write a story. When they couldn't quite fill up an entire sheet, all the other kids would raise their hands to ask the teacher if they had written enough. I was raising my hand to ask for more paper.

This world is filled with higher powers of negativity than any but One can combat. As I begin to face this particular dream, I am shocked to see the form that it is taking: me full of fear, self-doubt, ignorance. My plan is to hold my breath and jump into the pool of pessimism, gaining nothing, only leaving behind a positive wake. With the strength of Christ I can take on all things, rendering the seemingly impossible into something within reach.

If I try, there's a good chance that I'll fail on my way to achieving this particular dream. But, "God did not give [me] a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:17).

Here's to defying gravity and pursuing this dream wholeheartedly!