We all have dreams as children, we believe that anything is possible, we believe that we can fly, or speak to someone on the other side of the world without ever having to go there, or walk on the moon. We have a sense of whimsy and adventure that allows us to face life head on and dive into the dreams that have been placed in our hearts. And then we grow up, and life and all of its responsibilities take over, we allow realities to take the place of our dreams, and most of us settle for less than what we were created for. All because we stopped believing that anything was possible. Money, security, and things become more important to us and slowly begin to take up the space of dreams that once allowed unicorns to roam about freely, fairies to sprinkle pixie dust on us, and giant dogs to fly. As children we live in a limitless world, one where everything and anything is possible, while as adults we forget what it’s like to even play games let alone dream.
I am on a new team this month, and at the beginning of the month we had a team time that gave us a chance to get to know each other a little bit better. We wrote random questions on slips of paper, put them in a tin, and then played a game that allowed for us to pull the slips and answer the questions written on them. Questions like…If you could pick one song to play every time you entered a room for the rest of your life what would it be? Describe yourself in 3 words. Describe your perfect job, money is not an issue. What did you dream of doing when you were little? (what/who did you want to be?) Among others I pulled these last 2 questions, and I didn't know how to answer them. I couldn't remember dreaming as a little girl, and I think my lack of dreaming was the reason that I couldn't answer the second question. I neither know what I dreamed of or what I what I actually want to do with my life beyond the race. For me the World Race was a huge step out of the box of adulthood and life that I had sealed myself in. A chance to break free of the path that I was set on for my life, and begin to dream again.
When I was little my dad would take us kids hiking on Saturday afternoons or Sundays after church,. Summer or winter, sun or snow, we would all gear up, get in the car, make the drive to the woods, and then set off down the beaten path. This usually only lasted for the first 10 minutes or so, then the hike would take a turn for the better, we would hear the trickle of a river off in the distance, or see a field through the trees that we wanted to explore and immediately change our trajectory. We didn't want to walk down the same path that everyone else took, we wanted to explore and have an adventure that was different. We would find the river and follow it, every time there was a fallen tree or even a smattering of rocks that made a way to the other side we would cross, no matter how thick or thin the trunk, or how many rocks there were for our feet to find. We had only one rule: The strong survive. If you fell in and got a soaker you kept going, we never found out what happened if you couldn't make it because no one ever wanted to be the one to end the amazing adventure. I recall once scootching across a tree that was suspended across a ravine 25 feet above the river, I didn't even consider that I wouldn't make it to the other side. And the one winter when my little brother fell partway through the ice leaving his lower half soaked, and there in the middle of the woods my dad gave him his long johns and extra layer of sweatpants before we continued on, because there's nothing else to do but keep going at this point. Or the time that we hopped a really tall fence into a field only to discover halfway to the other side that the field was actually holding approximately 25 buffalo and we were suddenly running for our lives.
There's a certain point in most people’s lives where they stop playing as much as they used to, they quit dreaming as often as they once did, and they let go of the once wild abandon that would send them running headlong into the next adventure without a thought to the risks involved. Children are so amazing, the things that they are willing to explore and experiment with. I can't pinpoint the moment that it happened to me; the moment that security became more important, what others thought about me took precedence over my sense of fun and adventure, the moment that my whimsy was lost. And in writing this I am just going to clarify that I am not a boring person or at least I don't think I am, I still like to do fun things, but as we get older our sense of what is fun changes. I think that a lot of us allow other people’s opinions and judgments to shape who we are and what we think, and in doing so let go of the belief that anything is possible. Yesterday I started playing a game of tag with a few of the little kids at the care point that we are working at this month, it eventually evolved into a game of cops and robbers, and while the rest of the girls on my team sat on the playground with a few of the young girls talking I reverted back to the playful, adventurous, carefree girl that I was created to be. I ran around chasing little boys and locking them up in “prison”, only to have them escape minutes later by shooting themselves out with their imaginary machine guns, or sawing through the lock with the circular saw that just so happened to be in the jail cell with them. No one told them that they couldn't break free, there were no limits on their imaginations, of what they could or couldn't do, they did what came natural to them, they allowed their minds to take flight and out of that came freedom.
In Matthew 18:3 Jesus says, “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” We need to stop believing that we live in a limited universe and start believing that anything is possible. We need to start dreaming again.
At the beginning of the month one of my teammates prayed a prayer over our team, and I want to pray something like it over everyone that is reading this, everyone that has forgotten what it is like to dream, that has lost their belief that anything is possible, and wants to break free of the box that their life has become.
“Hey God, I just want to thank you for creating us. I pray that our lives are filled with beautiful things. I pray for the unseen things to be seen. I want us to start seeing unicorns, rainbows, and fairies with their fairy dust again. I ask that there be no walls put up and I ask that our lives be filled with joy and laughter. I pray that you would begin to uprise in us the dreams that we dreamed as children, that we would cast off the cares of this world and pursue You and all that You have for us if only we would go after it. I pray that we would have the courage to believe that we can be more and do more, regardless of the resources that we have, because You are not calling us to have the resources, only be bold enough to step out, trusting that You will provide what we need. I love you endlessly and I thank you for all ready making our prayers come to life. Amen.”
