Someone once said, “Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”

Growing up in the 60’s I remember clearly and pondered often a saying made famous by Robert F. Kennedy: “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

One of the things we all do in life is dream and I encourage each of you who do to keep your dreams alive. Of course, many dreams must be inevitably be altered to fit reality. Forks in the road will soon be reached where we must painfully choose between equally desirable options. But behind it all there is a dream. And we must not let go of it.

Adapt your dream, yes. But do not bury it. Do not let it die. Do not to become a broken winged bird that cannot fly.

The fact of the matter is…many of us find a lot of fool’s gold before we discover the real thing. But the journey along the way can be exciting. And fool’s gold will teach us to recognize the real thing when its sparkle is finally seen.

I must admit, I have never discovered gold, though dare I say I spent a lot of years looking for it. But what I did find was much more valuable. I discovered the power of dreams and visions, imagination and ideals, that point far beyond the pathway of this life and into the vast unknown of eternity.

Where there is no vision, the people will perish Proverbs 29:18

And afterward,
       I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
       Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
       your old men will dream dreams,
       your young men will see visions.

       Even on my servants, both men and women,
       I will pour out my Spirit in those days.   Joel 2:28-29

During the first period of our lives the greatest danger is: not to take the risk. Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard

I do not know why it is that we remember so much about some small decisions of our lives and so little about most of the great ones, but for me at least that has always tended to be the case. Maybe it is because the great decisions are not made at some particular moment in time but deep within us have been so long in the making that we find ourselves acting on them before we are altogether conscious of having decided to.

Theologian Frederick Buechner

Say with me: Lord, I want my life to count for something; I want to know that my years will be filled with purpose and meaning. I don’t want to simply exist, to mark time. I yearn to live for reasons bigger than dollars and cents, fame, or security. I long to take the risk, attempt the quest, whatever it might be.

Father, you are both Creator and Sustainer. Years ago you created a Dream in me. Now sustain me. Enable me to discern the tasks before me, to know the difference between challenge and foolishness, to believe that my life can make a difference.

May your Spirit fill me so that, young or old, I may dream dreams and see visions. Amen.

Pastor Mark