What happens when our dreams die?
Life is like that. We start out so young, full of optimism and hope for the future and our lives. As children we have this insatiable curiosity for the world. Children are so fascinating to observe as they explore and experience new things. It is truly one of the magical joys of parenting, seeing everything new through their eyes.
As we get older, things change. The world is a tough place, hard things happen, and we get less hopeful and more pessimistic. For some of us, the dreams we had for what life would be or what we thought our lives would bring slowly die as we realize that some things will never be.
The life of faith invites us to live without easy answers or explanations. The life of faith also strengthens us to go through this life even when things seem uncertain, even when things go completely awry.
Jesus' disciples had expectations, too. They thought they knew who this Jesus person was that they were following. They staked everything on this person. They gave up lives, careers, homes, family all to follow. Then Jesus turns around and tells them that the Messiah they expected was not in store for them. Rather than leading a political revolution, Jesus was going to be betrayed, suffer, and die. Can you imagine how Peter must have felt when his dreams of the Messiah died as Jesus spoke? It must have been crushing.
Yet, look at the path God had in store for the disciples. Jesus died, and then the most incredible event in human history happened. Jesus was raised from the dead and in him the New Creation began. Then, the same Spirit of God that was in Jesus came to the disciples and filled them with authority and power, and they spread the Gospel that Jesus was risen throughout their known world.
This drive, this new life, this new calling that God gave them was so powerful that the same Peter who was so devastated as his dreams died before him, that same Peter was willing to actually die for the cause of the Gospel. He gave up his own life as a martyr and was crucified upside down. But in that new calling, in that direction of life he never could have predicted or asked for, he found a fullness of life, a sense of purpose, joy, and peace that he never would have found otherwise.
God is not calling all of us to be martyrs. But what if we were curious as to God's plans, God's story of salvation, and how our story might be radically different than we ever imagined? What if we were open to what possibilities God might have in store for us? What if we were open to God's dreams for us?
God blesses the curious. Let us all be curious together about what God is doing this Lent. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this in our forums.
I was recently recounting with a friend how many of my dreams hadn't worked out the way I'd imagined. As a kid at age 12 I decided I was going to be a fashion designer and single mindedly set my sights on that intention for YEARS - ever action, my college choices, all my plans, and then when I got to college, within a semester, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. It was devastating. But some good mentors lifted me up, helped redirect my talents and interests, helped me to find friends who really appreciated me for the real me, ones who I didn't need to pretend with. And all through my life, things like this have continued…