Dreaming While You’re Awake

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Photo: kennymatic

Let’s play a little word association game.

Do you not think it will be as much fun with me on the other side of your machine?

Well, you’re probably right… but I invite you to play along anyhow. I’ll give you a word, and you take a moment to think what comes to mind.

Success.

Victory.

Dreams.

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I’m most interested to know what came to your mind when you read the word ‘dreams’. Did you think of blissful rest? On the contrary, did you think of agitated nightmares?

When you thought of the concept of dreaming, did you imagine yourself to be asleep or awake? There is surely something to be said about a sweet dream that makes you wish you didn’t have to acknowledge the alarm, but what about the dreams you dream in your waking hours? What happens in your heart and in your mind as you ponder the potential of your life given your current circumstances and your natural gifting?

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As a recent college graduate, I’m in arguably one of the most transitional periods of my entire life. Should I get a job in my field? Should I go to grad school? Should I move home? Should I leave everything altogether and travel Europe for the next six months (a thought that crosses my mind at least three times a week)?

Maybe you’ve been asked the question: What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Have you answered it? Have you thought long enough to consider what you might do if you could literally do anything?

You’ve been crafted and created to do amazing things.

Not necessarily safe things, maybe not logical things. And more than likely, not always the things that will generate the biggest paycheck. But it will be the thing that makes you come alive, and when you come alive the world will come alive around you.

American philosopher Howard Thurman said:

[quote]“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”[/quote]

When you fall asleep and dream you are confined to wake up and wish that it were real. You have no option but to wake and be thrown back into the reality of what is.

But when you dream while you’re awake, you have the glorious opportunity to combine your greatest desires with your deepest gifting. You can plan, create, and work tirelessly to achieve that which you have hoped and wished for. It sure is sweet to dream by night, but it’s wildly thrilling to dream by day.

After I finished putting these thoughts on paper I came across this quote and felt my heart stir once again:

[quote]“All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”[/quote]

–T.E. Lawrence

I’m a daydreamer. I can’t sit still without thinking of the next could-be and I’m moved by passionate desires, albeit some may never meet reality. It helps me to sift through them all in confidence that in my dreaming I will land on the ones that are meant to be and that in my passion, and with my Jesus, I will see them come to life.

Dream by day, friends, and watch the world come alive.

 [box_help]Sound Off: What’s one dream you’d like to see God provide for? How can you dream bigger? Let us know in the comments.[/box_help]

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