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When Big Dreams are Small

I just read another blog about dreaming big.  Okay I skimmed it because I’ve read ones like it before. I always walk away from them feeling less than and I know that’s not what the writers intended.  But I do.

Don’t take me the wrong way here.  I’m all about fulfilling dreams.  I just wrote about it not long ago!  It’s okay to dream big!  I mean I didn’t want to be a journalist for nothing.  I wanted to prove myself and prove to others that I was worth something.  I wanted to make a name for myself.  So I totally understand about dreaming big because I’ve still got a few of my own.

But that’s my hang up.  What are our big dreams really about?  Are they about us?  Proving ourselves, our worth, our talents?  Or are they about God?  Trusting Him for the impossible?  Leaping into that faith journey?  Too often I get in the way.  It’s about me.  The message I take away is that I’m a failure if I don’t have a book deal, a huge ministry or fill in the blank.  My thinking is all wrong.

What does the term “big dreams” really mean?  I read the words “big dreams” or “dream big” and I automatically think the world is the stage.  Big equals success.  Maybe that’s just me because obviously I still have a few issues.

I think I am receiving the wrong message here.  Maybe in saying “big” we mean something else.  Big dreams don’t have to mean “big” in the world’s terms.  It means big on God’s terms and those are completely different and upside down from peoples’ ideas.  What we think as minor, as insignificant, may be the biggest life changers; more than any book, sermon or blog.  And that’s not to say that God can’t use them too.  We don’t have to put God in a box here.  He can use anything and anyone to change people and the world.  But I need to readjust my thinking and my ego.

Big dreams that the world, including some in the Christian world, would deem insignificant might be:

Dreaming your children would have a different childhood than yours and you’ve worked hard in so many ways to give that to them.

Dreaming whatever call you are following in your life, that you end up where God is already working.  Because that truly is the sweet spot.

Dreaming the people in your church are actually applying what they learn on Sundays and take it up a notch and read their bibles at home. It’s not about numbers or mega churches.

Dreaming  you live out what you preach.  Words are nothing without love, integrity and grace.

Dreaming and working towards paying off your debt so you can give more.

Dreaming your children will grow to love Jesus.  Since you are the main person in their lives to teach them that, you live it out day after day even when you are bored, scared and frustrated beyond belief!

Dreaming and praying everyday that your prodigal will come home.

Dreaming your workplace could be better and it starts with you.

Dreaming you can make a difference in someone’s life and it’s the small things that count.  Because after all, small isn’t in God’s vocabulary.

Perhaps I need to rethink what big dreams are in God’s Kingdom.  They are the ones that influence the people we cherish most.  In the end, I’d rather know that my actions and words affected my family for the better, that I made a difference in their lives.  Maybe then I would be mature enough to handle what the world calls big dreams, because I would know that in the bigger picture, they were really the smaller dreams.  I would understand that to lead, you must serve whether in your home, your workplace or church.