Some Dreams Don’t Expire
Growing up I wanted to be a fashion designer. This was after I grew out of a phase where I wanted to be a waitress at IHOP. That was a regular spot for my dad and I, chocolate chip pancakes with a smiley face before school. Luckily I moved on, I won’t mention the time I said I wanted to be a manager at KMart...I was an odd child. But one day when I was still young I got it in my head that I wanted to be a fashion designer and it stuck. My mom taught me how to sew and I remember we would spend hours looking at patterns and fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics. All through high school I held on to this idea...in the back of my mind anyway. But, when it came time to choose a school and a major I decided on business school, that was the “practical” plan. I thought I could “leave my options open”. Not a bad plan necessarily, I’m sure I could have used that degree many ways but it wasn’t what was in my heart.
So often we discount our dreams, as if they’re meant to stay there, in our head and heart just to imagine. We discount ourselves. I thought surely I should have already mastered many design and sewing techniques by now if I wanted to be a fashion designer, I’m already 19 (I know how ridiculous that sounds now). We discount God. I tried to make a plan for my future without Him, as if I’m the best person to do that. I did eventually figure it out...I went to art school...finally! I got a degree in Interior Design and I loved it.
Now I find myself in NYC, a city that revolves around fashion and it has taught me something about our dreams. It’s made me wonder if maybe when our dreams seem too big or not practical it’s because we’re not in the right place. Maybe a dream that doesn’t fit where you are is God’s way of saying you’ll need to move on if you want to realize this dream. I know now that I was too comfortable where I was so I picked a dream that would work for me right where I was. Something that would fit into what I had planned. But God was working something out in my heart long before that. I know it’s part of the journey, no regrets but it has challenged me view my dreams differently. To view them through the lense of what God can do, where He can bring me. After all, He has placed these dreams in our hearts and now I realize that some dreams don’t expire, they keep showing up until you let them have a chance.
What is the dream in your heart right now that seems too big, too crazy, or out of reach? What move can you make to get a little closer to this dream? It doesn’t need to be a big geographical move necessarily. Maybe it’s just getting yourself one step closer. One step out of your comfort zone.
