Tip of My Iceberg

Yes, I was one of those girls.

You know, the kind that loves horses, who would do anything to be able to ride a horse, and asks every year for Christmas for one of her own.

That was never a practical ask. We lived in the Chicago suburbs.

One of my dreams was to someday see the famous Lipizzaner stallions perform at the Spanish Riding School, where they stage the very well-trained white stallions in the School Quadrille. These incredible animals are trained diligently for years, along with their riders, to perform intricate maneuvers as a group. I had several books about the, often annoying my siblings with a significant fact about their training or what it would take to be one of their riders.

My dream was accomplished by my two sisters, who were in Europe vacationing together.

I wasn’t jealous. I was actually happy that they got to see them. I was a little sad that I couldn’t be with them; they actually were able to meet a cousin we never knew we had. But the white stallions? I was grateful they got great pictures.

Dreams are gifts in many ways. The problem today is that so many of us have forgotten how to dream. We’ve exchanged the chance to develop our aspirations for others’ thoughts and ideas, filling our minds with video games, social media, and what others create.

The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking shows a decline in the creativity of American children since 1990. Schools are partly to blame–there’s an overemphasis on standardized tests rather than teaching the children in the classroom. But they also mention the lack of unstructured and imaginative play and increased screen time, most of which is passive, watching others play games. What’s fascinating is the greatest decline is among children from kindergarten through third grade.

God is the creative Genius who “has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11-12. In His heart of love for us, God has given us the ability to dream and create.

He speaks to us if we will listen. “God always answers, one way or another, even when people don’t recognize His presence. In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, when men and women are deep in sleep, fast asleep in their beds–God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings to turn them back from something bad they’re planning, from some reckless choice, and keep them from an early grave, from the river of no returns.” Job 33:14-17.

Being attentive to the whispers of the Lord, like acknowledging the dreams in our hearts, takes a quietness of mind and soul to hear what is being said, being attentive to thoughts deeper than the loudness of the world.

My sisters were able to live my dream, a dream that became shared.

God shares His heart with me as I listen to His quiet voice, making real His dreams for me. Sharing dreams with Him makes a difference in my life.

What are your dreams?