“What do you want to do with your life? What are your goals? What are you passionate about? If you could do one thing and nothing could stop you… what would it be?”
I’m curious as to how reading these questions made you feel: Did they excite you? Scare you? Confuse you?
These are simultaneously my favorite and least-favorite questions that exist. I find them stimulating and exciting. I believe there is no better way to get to know somebody than through these questions. I love asking them and truly, there’s nothing I love being asked more. I find them daunting and scary. Somehow, it always feels like there’s no right answer and truly, there is not a question that I dread more.
I never quite know what to say… so, my response? I jokingly say, “I’m a big dreamer” and proceed to say I don’t know what I want out of life.
That is probably the biggest lie I have ever told.
If you know me, you know that I know more about my dreams, goals, and what I want out of life than what I know about what to eat for breakfast.
And even still, I’ve found a way to preface my dreams every single time I share them. I’ve managed to create a narrative that prevents me from confidently sharing my dreams- (and dare I say… my goals?) in order to… what? Not look foolish? Not seem naive and hopeful? Not offend anybody?
What, exactly, does saying I’m a “big dreamer” instead of sharing my dreams do for me? Does it save me embarrassment? Is it my contingency plan in case they “don’t work out”?
This spring, I gave a tour at my university to a group of high school seniors (looking to play football at Evangel) and their families. At the conclusion of the tour, I asked the group if they had any questions. Typically, a tour group would bashfully look away or politely ask me a question about the university’s admissions process. This time was different; at the conclusion of this tour, a parent asked me about the best thing about my university (giving me an opportunity to win them over for our school, which is essentially my job). Because I am so passionate about the mission of my university, I answered with a non-hesitant, heart-felt answer. He noted how shocked and impressed he was with my quick answer, and because of that, asked me a second question. It went something like this:
“Since you seem so wise, I am curious. If you could give one piece of advice to the high school seniors in front of you as they approach their journey of collegiate education, what would you tell them?”
Again, I answered without any hesitation. In fact, I had practically preached them a sermon before I realized what was even coming out of my mouth and when I finished, their astonished expressions and evidently touched hearts fell short in comparison to how convicted my own heart had become by my own words.
Without even skipping a beat, I told the parent that if nothing else, this season of life is the time to dream without limitations. This is the time, if none other, to discover who it is that you are and what it is that you were destined to do. I encouraged each student two things: 1. discover your biggest “God” dream 2. do it.
Am I saying we should strive to be the biggest, the coolest, the most known people? Absolutely not. But I am challenging the fact that we have the ability to to not get all that God has for us simply because we don’t allow Him to drop dreams into us and even when we do, we rarely have have enough confidence in Him to profess that they’re there… let alone do them.
We take our all-knowing, all-powerful God and limit the thoughts He can put into our minds. We take the God who knew us before we walked the earth and limit the dreams He can drop into our hearts. We attempt to take the God of heaven to fit Him into the small boxes of our human capacity and thinking.
At least…. I know that I do.
We watch others living a life we dreamed of from the sidelines of our own lives instead of accepting that maybe, just maybe, God dreams higher for you than you do for you.
So, hear me: If you feel like God has dropped a dream too big in your heart and you either haven’t known what to do with it or haven’t had confidence that He will see you through: I hear ya. And listen, if it is Him who gives it, then your dream is not too big. I would even dare to say that in most cases, we do not let ourselves dream big enough.
So my challenge for you? I dare you to own it. I dare you to 1. discover your biggest God dream and 2. do it.
Next time you hear the questions (“What do you want to do with your life? What are your goals? What are you passionate about? If you could do one thing and nothing could stop you… what would it be?”) I dare you to answer them… for real, this time. Don’t use the cop out I use and say “I’m a big dreamer” but dare to speak out the dreams God’s dropped into your heart, with confidence that when it’s Him who gives it, it’s Him who sees you through.
And as I conclude, there’s a pressing thought on my heart: I think we limit our dreams because of our own self perceptions. So, that being said, if no one has told you yet today, hear it from me:
You are enough. Your dreams aren’t too big for you. Your dreams are not inferior simply because the world sees them as lesser than the girl/guy sitting next to you.
All my love for you, you dreamer.
xoxo.
****Disclaimer: I am not intending to write here that there are “small” dreams. (In fact, be sure to check out pt. 2 of this series entitled “is dreaming bigger dreaming better?”.) I don’t believe that a such thing even exists. I am not here to say that the calling on your life is small because you aren’t traveling the world or standing on the front line, etc. There is nothing small about a calling that, from the outside, seems simplistic. I am not here to say you should step our of God’s will to make something “big” of yourself. Quite simply, through this blog post, I aim to challenge you to let God drop bigger dreams into your heart than you’ve let Him before. I am simply aiming to build confidence in readers to not limit God when looking at your future. I do not seek to encourage readers to dream from your own heads, but to seek His presence and conviction, for it is then that His dreams become our dreams.*****
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