What's your dream?

I’m trying viciously to finish McLaren’s book, but the good people at Amazon just sent another package to my house and I had to start one of the new books I received. Engaging God’s World, by Cornelius Plantinga Jr., addresses establishing an understanding of God’s world and how we are to live in it. He leads the book through the broad strokes of longing and hope, creation, fall, and redemption.

I’ve been digging into the story of the life of Joseph, looking mostly at the early part of his life. Joseph was a boy who had a dream. He was willing to follow God, despite circumstances that came his way, toward the fulfillment of the dream God had planted in him.

Plantinga writes in the first chapter of his book about the longings we have, the need to search for something that is missing, to fill that empty space within. He quotes a prayer from St. Augustine: “O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

But, a God-given longing doesn’t just remain as a personal desire, but must evolve into a hope that fulfills that longing for everybody. That personal need must become something bigger than for ourselves.

I also listened to, for the first time, the audio of MLK’s “I have a dream…” speech. (Yes, I’ve heard and read excerpts from the speech, but had never heard the whole thing… and, no, I don’t live under a rock.) That address so clearly paints a picture of the deep longing and hope that Rev. King had for justice and freedom.
So, think for a bit about the dream God has planted in you. Can you listen closely enough to hear the whispering voice calling you to fulfill some part of God’s desires for you? God called Joseph to save Egypt and Israel from famine. God called MLK to stand for justice and freedom for all. What is God calling you to do? to be? And that’s not ‘just for you.’ How can that be bigger and for others?

What’s your dream?

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