Grabbing the Tail of a Dream

By Mike Ege

I believe that there is a life dream each of us has, especially ones that started when we were kids. Some of us wanted to be an astronaut; some wanted to fly like a bird. Others dreamed about baseball as a profession.

Some of those dreams stick with us well into adulthood – dreams that continue to draw us toward them, that won’t go away regardless of the amount of trying we might invest. These are the ones I am calling life dreams. They are the ones that have become a central part of the story of our lives even through at times we didn’t notice them there.

It’s interesting to note that there are three different human responses to the whole dream thing. The first is to judge it as childish and try to grow out of it. The second is to ignore it, and although it never goes away, we also never really decide to pursue it. The third way we respond to our dreams is we pursue them without reservation.

I am a fool for dreamers and dreams come true, and for movies where the hero pursues his or her dream without distraction. I love movies like Pursuit of Happyness, or Dreamer, or Cinderella Man. In each story line there is a person who has a dream that seems ridiculous, and somehow they achieve it, whether it is through hard work or luck or determination or sheer persistence. I admire the single-focusedness of those kinds of people, unwaveringly holding to their dream, despite the odds.

Why do movies like that move us? Why is that we are stirred by the story of David and Goliath? What is it about the story of Gideon slaying 30,000 enemy troops with 300 men that draws us into believing that life is more than our job and our house and our everyday life? I love the movie Rudy, where the star, against impossible odds, actually plays in a Notre Dame College football game. More than that, he challenges our hearts to be more than we can be, to reclaim our dream. And his story is true.

I believe everybody has dreams that lead them on during times of purposelessness. I have to admit that the last couple years have taken me through a season where I not only didn’t follow my dreams, but began to despise them as lies that would never come true. My dreams had become my tormentors reminding me I would never taste of them, that I had made too many mistakes to ever live my dreams; that I was without a hope and a future. I was angry and disillusioned and really pretty hopeless.

Jeremiah 29:11 has been a verse I have clung to for years, even when it seemed foolish to cling any longer. Sometimes I would read it and hang onto the promise there as if it were God himself speaking to me from a burning bush. Other times the verse taunted me and I would respond with my own version of “Bah, humbug”.

The season has changed for me, or at least I am hopeful it is changing. I realize that I was angry with God that life didn’t go like I thought it was going to go, like I thought it should. And somewhere in my spirit I had decided I wasn’t about to trust another dream he brought my way. I was resigned to live safe and angry and holed up inside myself. I wasn’t turning aside for any burning bushes. I wasn’t going to dream any dreams or open myself up to be hurt by a God who didn’t follow through on His promises.

I think that our life dream was put in us by God, to draw us on when it doesn’t make any sense to continue on. It’s the nagging voice inside that says we were meant for more, that we are called to more, that He intends us for more. We may never know a clear picture of what the ‘more’ is, but its existence stirs us at a level that won’t leave us alone, even when we want it to. It is a call to purpose and a way of being that brings glory to God.

I am daring to dream again, and I guess I am willing to have life not go the way I think it should. I find in me a willingness again to grab onto the tail of a dream and let it take me where it goes, and let go of the bonds of demanding that it go where I think it should. I must confess that I am scared. The last time I climbed on this thing I got bucked off and banged up pretty bad. And it’s taken a long time for those wounds to heal. Dreams aren’t safe, but they draw us toward becoming more than we think we can be. I wonder who else out there might be willing to get back in touch with their dream, and follow wherever it leads, regardless of the cost.

© 2007 Mike & Laura Ege, www.OutsideEdgeCoaching.com

Mike Ege is a life coach who challenges people who are tired of shallow, ineffective faith to go beyond the brink of what they’ve always known and ignite a spiritual journey full of adventure, purpose, and freedom. For more information or to sign up for a free email series ‘7 Radical Freedoms’, go to http://www.OutsideEdgeCoaching.com