Josh Linton
I have a lot on my mind.
New paths…
Bills to pay…
Dreams to pursue…
Stuff.
Family. Friends. Life. Jesus.
How does it all piece together and why do I find myself so consumed trying to figure out how to escape being consumed? I need pause to relish the present moment. But my mind leaves the moment and time-travels into the dimness of the past or the uncertainty of the future or sets itself on a course to figure out the faint relevance of my personal contributions to the cosmos. A frustration with consequences I endure rather frequently.
Enter doubts and questions. Will each detail of my life feel the impact of his reign and will it matter? Will others sense him in me? Can they hear him in my tone? Feel him in my embrace? Sense him as I share the same moments with them? If so, will I disappear? Do I really like the idea of people seeing God in me but not me? Will I still be me if his nature infuses every cell in my body?
Such questions produce an anxiety about my very validity and worthiness.
I heard a good sermon one time about dreaming. The preacher stirred my imagination with an image of the dreams of humanity streaming into the flow of God’s dream. He reminded that our dreams should contribute to the overarching dream and ambition of God. Let me take it a bit further.
Through sharing our dreams with God we become creative partners with him. We’re not subjects to a static god who demands unquestioning conformity to some distant agenda but partners in a co-op of dreaming where the Chief Dreamer empowers our creativity and dances with us toward better days.
Imagine God and me, God and you, dreaming together. We’re welcome to dream with him not because we can right the future or that we even have the best intentions for the world, but because he trusts the power of the shared dominion he intended when creating us. He invites our individual perspectives, personalities and awkwardness. He lets us move him. He occupies Mt. Sinai expressing his desire to wipe away his frustrations by wiping out a group of people then pauses and opens his heart to our point of view. The people live.
The dreams shaped by our special uniqueness speckle, highlight and shade God’s dream for the universe. Try to envision the Exodus and subsequent rise of Israel without Moses in Jehovah’s ear. God’s at his best when we’re involved. And together the best dreams we can conjure materialize into a reality that authenticates a seemingly futile existence.
Great post, Josh! I often find myself in the same place…especially in the past few months. Wondering if I have done enough, wondering how long I will stay here, wondering if all of my dreams (which I have many of!!) will ever come true…and yet, one of them is…I am sitting in one of my dreams and prayers I prayed for a long time…that God would send me somewhere and I would answer His call to share His message…I lose sight of that and wonder why things have not worked out a certain way, but they are working on God’s way.
I do want to continue to dream with Him. I think He loves to hear our passions, goals, and dreams-for after all they are from Him!!
Thanks for sharing! Blessings~