Dreams & Desires

In a dream God asked me, “Why don’t you get what you want?”

Regardless of whether a person believes in God or dreams, that’s a question worth answering. And I’ll do that on my next post. But for the moment, consider another question. Is it okay to do what we want?

In the film The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid, a baseball coach gets a shot at living his dream, playing Major League Baseball. But he’s no longer a young man. And he’s not single. With a wife and children, he has responsibilities. And a question.

He wants to know what you and I want to know. Can we pursue our dreams or do our desires have to yield to our responsibilities? Quaid’s character, Jimmy Morris, turns for help to his father, played by Brian Cox. Jim Morris, Sr. listens, but already knows what he’s going to say. He tells his son what his father told him. “It’s okay to do what you want to do until it’s time to do what you have to do.” (Or something like that.)

But I have another question. What if what you’re supposed to do is what you want to do and what you want to do is what you’re supposed to do?

The problem is that many times we think it’s not okay to do what we want to do. We believe that we must do God’s will or what our fathers or mothers want or what a spouse expects or what we think we should do because we have children or elderly parents or some other responsibility.

I’m not suggesting that we shirk our duties. But I am asking whether or not we have free will.

If we do, then when we pursue our dreams, we aren’t necessarily being selfish. In fact, we may be doing what we were created to do, what we are gifted and talented to do. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

So give yourself permission to dream. Remember it’s okay to desire something for yourself. And then pursue those dreams. If you catch one, you may discover joy you’ve never imagined.

By the way, the film is based on the true story of Jim Morris. If you want to watch a clip that tells part of the rest of the story, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlRCXhRoYcg and, “Remember who you are.”