If you could do anything in the world, what would it be? If money, time or capacity wasn’t a concern – what would you immediately put your hand to? These days it seems like more and more people desire to change the world. But that intention doesn’t always turn into action because of a few factors.
Be it fear, allowing failure, restricted resource or disability to become an excuse, or simple distraction – there are many that find themselves pulled down to average living straight away. Even those who have traction are in danger of losing it all. It’s clearly portrayed in the current reality series format – where people progress through levels of a competition all professing that singing is all they want to do and that this opportunity will change their lives… And as much as it has become rhetoric, it is still true. But then one by one they fall like flies back into anonymity or, at best, into B grade spinoff shows like I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
So why dream? Why aspire to anything when there are so many reasons why you cannot ever do it? I believe there are a few reasons. Hereforth lies my case for dreaming:
-
Dreaming makes us human
We are set apart as the only species that can imagine something and then make it happen – to bring something fresh and new into the world out of nothing. A humanity that doesn’t dream is a humanity in decline. Imagine if no one launched a new business, aspired to roles of leadership in government or industry, or dreamt up new stories to entertain us. Life would be infinitely boring and everything would be in a perpetual war on repairing things that were breaking and failing. We are like sharks – if we don’t move forwards, we will suffer and eventually die. Progress is the greatest form of motivation there is. How could we stay motivated without dreaming?
-
Dreaming makes the world better
We have seen technology completely revolutionize how we communicate, drive, eat, work and relax. But this is not the last frontier. The best businesses haven’t been built. The best brands haven’t been imagined. The greatest humanitarian advancements haven’t been formulated. The most incredible buildings haven’t yet been drawn. Dreaming will not only help end suffering, but also gives meaning to suffering. If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, all of a sudden the present darkness is worth enduring. We need to dream.
-
Dreaming connects us to God
God is the ultimate creative. He gives us dreams and has the greatest ability to make something out of nothing. When we dream, we are seeing what our lives could be – beyond the boundaries of what looks possible. In many ways, if we truly dream with wild creativity – open to the fact that the impossible is possible – we need to acknowledge God. In partnership with him I have seen the most impossible dreams become reality. He specializes in what we deem ‘impossible’ and takes us on an adventure to see our wildest imaginations outworked and set in motion before us. Dreaming when living in relationship with God connects you to faith like nothing else will. It sets a desire and a longing for the unexpected and that expectation is a magnet for God to show up and astound us.
One of the greatest reasons I dream is because I know that there is a lot on God’s heart for this world that still isn’t being communicated or expressed to its fullest. And as I get caught up in the wondrous possibilities, I have seen God take those fantastical ideas that I wouldn’t dare whisper to others and completely blow me away as they become a reality.
Knowing God is that crazy – that fun and that exciting. If you would like to know him for yourself, click on the link below.