It's funny. It seems like once you hit 16 years old people expect you to have a fully completed, color map, including every cross road and your occasional wayside historical site, for your life. The expect you to know what car you want to drive, what your career will be, a nice job with 50k a year, know who you're going to marry, and some people seem to expect you to even have your first three kids' names picked out.
But the thing about dreams, about goals, about endeavors, about LIVES...
They grow.
Most the time you don't wake up in the morning and decide you want to be a missionary to Puerto Rico and that you're gonna order your Spanish Rosetta Stone program right after lunch. Something plants that seed and it is watered, or deprived, over time.
It seems like we're setting up our generation to fail. And fail big time. Everything around us happens faster and faster with each passing year. Several of our advertisements from internet service to car repair is that they get it done "faster". So shouldn't we be growing up faster too?
The saying goes "chase your dreams". Not "Hunt down your dreams and put them in a choke-hold til they give you what you want within the next 6 months". The problem with doing everything faster is that we start preforming without knowing our lines. We haven't done any research or gained any wisdom on what we're rushing headlong into. We'll just "live and learn"....the hard way.
Now I'm not suggesting you follow every whim of your heart, or that you become a video gamer for a living because you just haven't had "time" to build your dream. Nor am I expecting you to just wait around at home til some random thing that sounds interesting finally falls into your lap.
But what I am saying is that, before you decide to become a brain surgeon, you seek out the cause-and-effect of this decision. (the dreaded word--->) *College* questions. Who do I know that is in this profession? Is this His will? How can you use it for His glory? Let your dream grow, or even except and allow it to fade, before you pursue it with everything you are. Most likely you're still in the dreaming stage of your life. Keep searching out His will. Set goals. Find your passions. Even (*gasp*) consult your parents. Most likely they know you better than anyone and know where you're gifted. ::CAUTION:: Even if your parents don't pass out in a dead faint from you asking their opinion their reaction may not be quite what you were expecting. Listen though. They have a lifetime of insight.
So many of us skip this stage. We want results. We want them now. But don't forget to dream. Bring everything before Him. All that you are. Lay it at his feet. Every talent, every failure. Step back. Live. Stand in awe. I've seen this work in so many amazing young adults/adults in my life. I want to be like them. When I get done with this earthly life I want to be able to say, not that I made a medical discovery, nor that I wrote a #1 hit bill-board topper in country music, but that I used all my talents (however frail) to His glory.
I want THIS to be my prayer:
"Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my king.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold not a might would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use every power as you choose.
Here am I, all of me.
Take my life, it's all for thee.
Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord I pour at your feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee,
Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee.
Here am I, All of me.
Take my life, It's all for thee.
Don't forget to dream. Don't forget to ask.
And just as a closing thought. Don't forget to let some dreams die. If they're not what's best... pursuing them isn't going to make them fit better. Don't let your selfish heart, other people's expectations (<--- such a hard one), or even your own expectations (<---sometimes even worse) dictate the paths of your dreams. Let Him guide you. He's holding that full-color, all turnout, steep hill, double dotted line, gopher-hole, Map. And as long as you're following His tailights (and you don't make any illegal right hand passes) He'll get you to your destination...through every storm and road block. And when you reach that destination, it will all be for His glory.... Just don't forget your seat-belt. 'Cause you might just get the ride...of your life.
Redeemed,
Pj
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