When I was young I had a huge imagination. I was always playing “pretend”. I was always lost in my own little world. And over the years I got so involved in trying to make my pretend world a reality I forgot how to dream. I mean, who has time to dream when you’re trying to make a living and raise a family and keep everybody happy.
Exactly.
But my question is, who doesn’t have time to dream when you are doing those things? Why not dream about a better life. Why not dream about how your children will be raised? Why not dream about a new home or a new car or a new job or a new career or a new life?
One of the problems I’ve always had is that I don’t think my dreams are attainable. But they are within my reach, aren’t they? I mean, if I can see them in my mind’s eye I can have them, can’t I? So, what’s stopping me?
I always dreamed of being married and having children. I have done that. I dreamed that I wanted a better life for my children. My parents dreamed of a better life for my brother and sister and I. And in a lot of ways we have that. I don’t know that they dreamed of an easier life for us though. That would have been a dream come true. Every life has hardships. It is how we perceive the hardships that mold us into who we are.
If the car breaks down we have the opportunity to stress out about it and wonder how we are going to be able to afford the repair or how we are going to be able to afford a new car. But what if we took that as an opportunity to see the good side. My car did break down several weeks ago. I loved that car. It was exactly the car that defined who I was. It wasn’t too big, it wasn’t too small. It got decent gas mileage. It was easy to get in and out of. It had a good cargo area too. The bad thing was that it had 240,000 miles on it. Little things were starting to go wrong with it. And the day they told me that I needed a new engine I made up my mind it was time to put it out of its misery. Now, I could have played the “woe is me” card but I didn’t have time for that.
My husband wanted to get a new car. I didn’t want a new car. I wanted my car. Okay, if I had the money to have gotten the new Cadillac I would have taken a new car. But I had the money for a Chevy. There’s nothing bad about a Chevy, but I really liked my car. But my husband was pretty persistent about getting something new. So if I was going to do what I wanted to do I had to act fast. Fast I can do.
I went on-line to the local classifieds. I did a search for a 2005 Buick Rendezvous. I love my Rendezvous. I found one. My brother-in-law deals in used cars. I put him on it. After careful negotiations he was able to make a deal on this car. It was exactly like my car except it had 70,000 miles on it. I was one of the happier people around town that day. So my car breaking down and having to be replaced was not a hardship on me. Yeah, I had to drive my husband’s old car for a couple of days. And I had to figure out some money for the new car but that wasn’t too hard either. Oh, it’s white. I don’t really like that but I can definitely live with it.
But I can dream that my children have a better life. And so far, they are. I mean, my father died when I was 19. I’m still alive for my older children. They have both finished college and I have instilled in them that the two younger ones will do so as well. So if I’m not around that will still happen. My older children have good jobs. They have found people who love them and they are getting ready to start on that journey in their lives. All four of my children have a good relationship with their faith. The song that I live by is “Spanish Pipe Dream” by John Prine. I call it “Blow Up Your TV.” The last line of the song is “They all found Jesus on their own”. All four of my children have found Jesus. Of course, I had a lot to do with that but if they hadn’t I don’t think I would have shoved it down their throat. I like to think that they found that it was important to me, so it became important to them. That’s the way I learned.
I have dreamed for a career for myself. I mean, I have always had a job. But I haven’t always had a career. Well, in the last couple of years I have developed a career. I’m not making a lot of money at it, yet. But you have to crawl before you can stand. You have to stand before you can walk. You have to walk before you can run. I’d say I’m in the “standing” stage. I may have even taking a couple of little baby steps. I’ll be walking soon. So my dream of writing and speaking and making money at it is not too far off. I’ll bet I’ll be booking speaking engagements by the end of the year. I mean, I have already written a book. So yeah, I’ll be booking speaking engagements this year. Wow!
So what else? What else is coming in my life? I am beginning to dream of the day when we don’t have to work every day of our lives. In fact, just this morning I put pencil to paper and looked at ways that we could be ready to turn the farm over to the kids within 8 years. That is very exciting. And very doable. Once they take over the farming then we can do what I want to do which is to travel. Not everywhere and not all the time. But if we have a bad winter we can head south. We can head west. Maybe we can even go visit family in far-away places. That would be so exciting. And I see it happening.
Because if you can see it then it can happen, can’t it. And if you just sit back and see what is in front of you that’s all you’re going to see and that’s all you’re going to be. And your imagination is a sea of opportunity. And it can be a sea of fun. So have a little fun with it. I always do. No one wants to dream about drudgery. And no one looks forward to hum-drum. People don’t sit through previews if they’re boring. They only tolerate them because they are fun or exciting. They give you something to look forward to.
I’m looking forward.