Don't Give Up the Dream!

Susan Boyle, an unemployed Scottish church lady brought down the house at the "Britain's Got Talent" auditions and has introduced "I Dreamed a Dream" (from Les Miserables) to a new generation. As of April 20, Reuters reported over 100.3 million online views of her performance and related materials. The song is actually quite a sad one, beginning with lines about excitement and high hopes and undying love, ending with hopelessness and disillusionment. The closing words are, "Now life has killed the dream I dreamed." I don't know whether or not it was intended, but Susan capitalized on the "dream" idea by explaining that she had not had the chance to fulfill her ambition of becoming a professional singer. She ignored the open skepticism of the audience and the rude presumptiveness Simon (one of the judges) didn't even bother to hide. She then proceeded to wow them all! Against the odds, at mid-life, she is still holding on to her dream.

A blogging friend of mine is headed this fall to a prestigious seminary on a full, merit-based scholarship. People wonder, she reports, how she happens to have such a wonderful opportunity, how almost like magic she reaches her goals, how she seems to have fairy dust sprinkled on her life. No, she would like to explain to them (but can't really), it has involved risk and lots of personal growth and a great deal of hard work. It has been some time in coming, but rather than give up the dream, she has pursued it and enlarged it and is ready to capture it.

Use of the word "dream" in Scripture usually means either a dream in the night or a special vision from God. Perhaps "ambition" or "compelling" may serve to mean the same as the "dream" we have for our future. The Apostle Paul wrote, "My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else." (Romans 15:20 NLT) He did exactly that in his missionary journeys! "Afterward Paul felt compelled by the Spirit [Or decided in his spirit, marg.] to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. 'And after that,' he said, 'I must go on to Rome!' ” (Acts 19:21 NLT) Paul went to Rome as a prisoner, but he did get to Rome and was an effective witness there. Finally he wrote, "This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that's left now is the shouting—God's applause!" (II Timothy 4:7, 8 MSG) What would the world have been like if Paul had not dreamed? What a great loss to the Church if we did not have the letters which were born of his dream?

Don't give up your dream! This is the race worth running! Run hard right to the finish, believing all the way!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

A related post: I Have a Dream

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved. Scripture marked MSG is taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com