How to Own Your Dreams

You know, we hear a lot of hoopla about “living the dream”. In fact, there was a time when we used to pay money to tour “Street of Dreams” houses.

You know what those houses were? Big, giant catalogs. We were paying money to covet what other people had!

The thing is that deep down we all want to be the people God created us to be. However, sometimes we don’t take the time to figure out what that is, so we go around trying on other people’s lives to see if they fit.

Recently, we gained full ownership of the house my husband grew up in. There are many wonderful things about this house, but the front lawn is minuscule. This summer, I’ve been spending my garage-saling-Saturdays gawking at other people’s yards and houses to get ideas. As I traverse this road to home improvement, I realized a few things that might help you narrow down your dream:

1. Your dream has to fit your life. There are a lot of beautiful yards out there. But most of them take up a fair amount of room. If I tried to create one of those yards, in my front yard, it wouldn’t work.

2. You have to work with the materials you have. You can gain more skills, etc, but there are some basic non-negotiables that you have to work with. Our house is situated so that my triangle lawn is on top of a bunch of rocks. There is really no getting around the walls of rocks that line the driveway down to the garage. Nor can we really change the triangle lawn.

3. Your dreams need to fit you. For years I had a dream to be one of those super organized, creative super moms who keep a clean house and their car still smells brand new. I finally had to realize that dream doesn’t fit me. Likewise, a nice lush lawn does not fit my lifestyle. I’m bad at gardening, and allergic to the planet. I’m beginning to think my triangle lawn might make a good rock garden.

4. Take what you like and leave the rest. You can learn from every person you meet. There are things about them that you can incorporate into your life. But, you don’t need to have their life to do it. All those lawns I like? They have some points of beauty that I am particularly drawn to. One thing I love in a friend’s yard is a fountain. Another friend has white stones along the path. Those would work in my triangle rock garden. The lushness of the rest of their yards will have to wait for the back yard.

The starting place for living your dreams is to own them.

First, get to know yourself. What are your boundaries? Are you a triangle yard, a cement floor, or a wet marsh?

Next, list all those things that you are yearning for. These are the whispers of your dreams.

Last, commit yourself to God. I believe strongly that when we spend time in worship, and make God the center of our lives, He gives us the desires of our heart – not that we get what we want, but that He literally creates a desire in us to be the people we were created to be.

Sometimes, we get glimpses of that person God is building us into. Those moments are a lot like walking through the Street of Dreams and catching our own reflection. You might not be there yet, but as you begin to take the pieces God is showing you, and lay them out (as in  journal), you will eventually see that He is building you, just like a garden, perfect for the time, place and tasks you live in.