Dream on!

I wonder if you remember your dreams on waking in the morning - that's if you get to sleep in the first place? I usually do remember mine and what adventures I have! I climb the odd mountain, swim the odd sea and travel the world. But mostly I get lost - just like I do in real life!

I love this wee phrase which I read today - 'You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream'. Even when I read it I could feel my heart beat faster with the excitement of wondering what next?!

It is sad that many people, as they grow older, cease to dream, and rather than set goals, simply drift from day to day as though they were in what some call 'God's waiting room'. I can remember my wonderful, funny grandmother eyeing a new coat, wondering whether to buy it, but deciding she wouldn't get the years out of it that it deserved price-wise - she'd be gone before the coat wore out! I don't think my gran lacked the ability to dream - she was just being realistic!

I know others though who are constantly taking on new challenges, dreaming and seeing dreams come true no matter how late in life. Those people inspired me as I grew older - and they still do. But what moves me to dream most of all is the God who is the God of the impossible - if the dream is God-given he will make it come true. He will make the goal achievable. Sometimes we need to step up and take the challenge.

Dreams and goals give purpose to life and save us from drifting aimlessly through life until we fizzle out. God defend me from fizzling! I was once involved in visiting an older lady who was coming to the end of her earthly life, and one day as I sat by her bedside in hospital on a day when she was too weak even to speak she managed one sentence - 'Miriam, make sure my funeral is good'. We'd talked about this before as she was adamant that her funeral would be less about her and all about reaching people for Jesus and glorifying God. I knew exactly what she meant. You could say that her final earthly goal was to die well and bring people and glory to God in her departing. She never let go of goals and never stopped dreaming. 

To all my friends, but today particularly to my older friends, I'd say - dream big - God is bigger and able to make those dreams become a reality. Who knows where those dreams will take you. After all, like me, I'm sure you really want to go off like a rocket and not fizzle out like a damp squib!