Dreaming small

I love to dream. Once during my senior year of college I dreamed I created an amazing final project for my oceanography class full of pertinent information, colors, and 3-D images. The dream was so great and so affirming that I was only slightly disappointed when I woke up to the reality of the mediocre project I completed on a white posterboard from Jewel Osco.

Another recurring dream I have involves eating nachos in bed. That’s the dream…I eat nachos in bed and it is wonderful. 

My dreams are usually small. Only occasionally will I have a grand dream at night.  Something that takes me on an adventure through space and time. Where I wake up sure that I’ve just been in the midst of an ethereal experience and equally certain of the reality of what I just dreamt. Those are great nights and ones I wish I could duplicate. But normally my dreams are small.

I’m ok with that. I do dream pretty small when I’m in charge of my imagination. I daydream about concrete realities like jobs and relationships and food. When I think of how my life might go, I always end up feeling like my dreams just might be too small for the reality that awaits me.

This is why I entrust my heart, my hopes, and my small dreams to the one person who creates grand, big, and epic realities. God dreams big. He dreams of peace in places where there is unrest. He dreams of freedom where there is slavery. For me, He dreams of something I don't yet know. But I am sure His dreams for my life go beyond what I could possibly imagine. They venture past the concrete into the miraculous.

At Advent when we dream of things like white Christmases and sugarplums, I love to think about the big plans God dreams for us this next year. His ideas that have yet to unfold. The days that He will ordain. The good works He plans for us to do. And the surprises He waits to bestow.

I don’t know what any of those dreams might be for you and much less for me. So, I entrust them to Him. And I’ll keep dreaming small until the day when I’ll wake up to the biggest dream of my life–Jesus, face-to-face. When I’ll take an adventure through time and space and awaken to an ethereal reality that puts my grandest dreams to shame. I dream you’re standing next to me on that day and that this Advent season you see God’s dreams come true in your life. In big ways and small ways.