Is Real Life Getting in the Way of Your Big Dreams?

Do you dream big dreams about making a difference in the world? Maybe you see yourself behind a podium delivering a message that makes a crowd laugh, cry, and run to Jesus. Your dream may involve bandaging wounds or ladling soup for the sick and hungry in a developing country. You may quietly hope your pastor will choose you to head up an exciting new program at your church. My own dream includes my name on the cover of a book.

Maybe, like me, you dream your big dreams and take steps to make them a reality. We spend time in prayer and study, network with influential people, and sign up for that mission trip. Our goals for the new year include benchmarks of success—tangible signs that our visions may someday become a reality. Right now, sitting at my keyboard is one way I work toward my goals.

The sounds of two arguing children shake me from my wide-awake dreaming. I leave my keyboard to capture a teachable moment. After I expose the deeper issues behind the conflict and elicit apologies, a pile of dirty laundry catches my attention. I walk my daughters through the steps of washing clothes, knowing they will need this skill one day. Then I find my son on top of the kitchen counter, trying to reach the basket of special treats. I rescue him and teach him the three-year-old version of “children, obey your parents.”

You know my story well because it’s probably similar to your own. Real life can get in the way of big dreams. By the time I manage my home and parent my children, I come back to a blank screen without the energy I need to fill the page with words of wisdom.

So much for the dream.

In Luke 8, Jesus encounters a man with big dreams. After Jesus heals him from a demon, he begs Jesus to allow him to join his band of disciples. He wants to tell the world what Jesus did for him. Instead of giving him a big platform, Jesus sends him home.

“‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:39 ESV).

Our demon-free man could have gone home to sulk over Jesus’ rejection. He could have taken the instruction as a sign he wasn’t good enough or talented enough to serve the Messiah. The excitement of his miraculous deliverance could have died then and there.

Instead, the man served right where he lived. His family and neighbors needed to hear the good news of Jesus, and he met that need. His big dreams didn’t come true the way he expected that day, but it was God’s perfect plan for him.

When I read Jesus’s instructions to the big dreamer, I sense him talking to me. I have aspirations, but he says, “Return to your home.” The world needs to hear about Jesus, but my kids also need me to teach them how to follow Jesus. Someone must bind the wounds of the hurting, but my kids also need me to teach them to pray over their own boo-boos. Books wait to be written, and it’s my ministry to read God’s Word to my children right now.

Hold on to those big dreams, friends. But let’s not neglect the needs of the people right in front of us.

Kelly Smith is a small town girl who married a small town man. They have three children. In the quiet minutes of her day, you will find her at the keyboard or curled up with a book–always with coffee. Kelly believes we are created for community and loves to find ways to connect with other women who are walking in the shadow of the cross. She blogs at mrsdisciple.com.

Photograph © Alexander Dummer, used with permission

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