“If one advances confidently in the direction of her dreams and endeavors to live the life she has imagined she will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” Henry Thoreau ,“Walden”
I was so enchanted with this quote the year I turned 50 that every journal for the next 20 years had it recorded. That was the year my first husband died and life changed dramatically. All at once “dreams and endeavors” became possible and I wasted little time redesigning life on my own terms. Seminary, reconstruction of a 50’s rambler into the first Blessing House, becoming an apologist with Dr. Don Bierle, and discovering the joy of gardening were seed ideas that had lain dormant in my imagination.
Little did I know those dreams were only the stepping stones into a totally unexpected life here in Victoria. My dreams were as big as I could imagine and those 13 years on Lakeview Terrace on Lake Waconia brought enormous satisfaction and joy as people flowed through the doors into the common hours of my imagined life.
But, God’s dream for me was beyond my imagination – an impossible reality that I am now sitting in as I write this blog. I am surprised every day with the enormity of His plan for me that far exceeded anything I could possibly have thought of. I wrote about the “what if” question that roamed through my mind last week as He asked me to give up everything I had ever imagined - everything I had accomplished, for am impossible journey into His imagination that only He could orchestrate. I am still stunned that He would entrust His dream to me as I was entering my 70s!
Could it be that I risked ”advancing confidently in the direction of my small dreams and a life imagined”? Was that all a set up to train me for this Blessing House? When did He dream this up? Was it truly before the foundation of the world according to Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God created in advance for us to do.”?
I encourage you to dream and endeavor to live a life imagined. Stop trying to figure out what God wants you to do… His dreams are too big to even conceive. I believe that He has put dreams within us that are the seeds of His greater dreams . Don’t just sit there wishing and praying something would change. Start where you are, journal your ideas and dreams, and risk advancing confidently in that direction.
I was so enchanted with this quote the year I turned 50 that every journal for the next 20 years had it recorded. That was the year my first husband died and life changed dramatically. All at once “dreams and endeavors” became possible and I wasted little time redesigning life on my own terms. Seminary, reconstruction of a 50’s rambler into the first Blessing House, becoming an apologist with Dr. Don Bierle, and discovering the joy of gardening were seed ideas that had lain dormant in my imagination.
Little did I know those dreams were only the stepping stones into a totally unexpected life here in Victoria. My dreams were as big as I could imagine and those 13 years on Lakeview Terrace on Lake Waconia brought enormous satisfaction and joy as people flowed through the doors into the common hours of my imagined life.
But, God’s dream for me was beyond my imagination – an impossible reality that I am now sitting in as I write this blog. I am surprised every day with the enormity of His plan for me that far exceeded anything I could possibly have thought of. I wrote about the “what if” question that roamed through my mind last week as He asked me to give up everything I had ever imagined - everything I had accomplished, for am impossible journey into His imagination that only He could orchestrate. I am still stunned that He would entrust His dream to me as I was entering my 70s!
Could it be that I risked ”advancing confidently in the direction of my small dreams and a life imagined”? Was that all a set up to train me for this Blessing House? When did He dream this up? Was it truly before the foundation of the world according to Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God created in advance for us to do.”?
I encourage you to dream and endeavor to live a life imagined. Stop trying to figure out what God wants you to do… His dreams are too big to even conceive. I believe that He has put dreams within us that are the seeds of His greater dreams . Don’t just sit there wishing and praying something would change. Start where you are, journal your ideas and dreams, and risk advancing confidently in that direction.