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Behold, the dreamer cometh. Genesis 37 : 19
Recently, I attended a gallery reception showcasing the creative endeavors of the county’s high school students. There was much talent displayed on the walls and pedestals that featured paintings, penciled drawings, ceramics, photographs and bronze sculptures.
What really caught my eye was a friendly, mousy-looking teenage boy; his blonde frizzy locks pouring out from beneath his tightly-fit black baseball cap. He was wearing the normal, any occasion dress code for his age group... tee-shirt, jeans and sneakers in size baggy that seemed to swallow him whole. He appeared oblivious to his surroundings as he made his way toward the refreshment table.
As with most people who wear tee-shirts (myself included), we do so not just for the comfort ability (although I am still for a more formal dress code when the situation calls for it such as church and social functions), but to make a statement, project our views about a particular matter, or to show our support and loyalty to a cause or product.
Somehow, perhaps without realizing it, this young man was displaying upon his chest, proud and unassuming, a verse that could easily fit into all of the above categories, as his tee-shirt proclaimed... You laugh because I am different. I laugh because you are all the same.
I often find it amazing how a word, a verse, a photo, a song or film, a sound, or even a smell can bring back either fond or painful vivid memories. Just seeing the above verse; white letters on a black cloth, instantly brought me back to my own youth some three decades past, and the laughter I had to endure for my dreams from family, friends, classmates and loved ones.
And immediately, I thought, "I wish I had a mantra like that tee-shirt that could have given me hope and strength in my time of need..."
Instead, my hope rested in the Lord and His Word, the Holy Scriptures. When you grow up in a strict, Roman Catholic family (I am of both Italian and Irish decent and therefore was doomed even while a seed in my mother’s womb of being raised Catholic), you tend not to be read the standard bedtime stories from the Brothers Grimm and Mother Goose, but rather from the Bible; both Old and New Testaments. I could relate to Joseph’s sorrow when his brothers wanted to kill him for mentioning his visions; mocking him in the beginning to finally selling him off to a traveling caravan.
In my 9-5, weekly paying, benefit induced family, I was made to feel ashamed to not just have fantastical dreams, but to actually have the audacity to believe that I could make them come true.
"But does not the Law say that with God all things are possible," I would ask, to which the often heard reply from my father would be a slap to the head, followed by, "Don’t be a wise guy. Go to your room!"
Sometimes the confinement would last an entire weekend that was suppose to teach me a lesson but only ended up disciplining me to be a loner and discover a way I could cross the threshold of boring reality into the infinite world of fantasy and adventure.
And I had many heroes and idols I could learn from such as... Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Colonel Sanders, George Washington Carver... the list and my private collection of biographies was endless.
On a side note, I thank God I was born in a time that didn’t have the luxuries of video games, VCRs, DVDs, desktop computers, the internet... because it would have taken away from my vivid imagination and the power of books to transport me to places I would one day visit in reality. Children today may need healthy role models, but they also need to be guided to their local libraries so that they, too, may be encouraged to attain their goals.
And thank God you were born an American; the land of the free thinking and free spirited, because I can personally tell you from experience that in Communist countries like China and Cuba, the government not only becomes your provider, but your thinker as well.
Womb to tomb mentality cripples and kills a thriving society. One must be bold and daring in their visions and act upon them with the Lord’s guidance and wisdom. Don’t be a fool and think you can do it all yourself. Be led of God and of the people He brings to your path. Never be arrogant to believe for a moment (and never let anyone tell you otherwise) you can be a one-person team. It’s impossible and that’s a word I don’t use often unless absolutely necessary.
And always test the spirits, especially the spirits of those whom you wish to associate with. It’s very easy to be reamed and taken in an evil world.
Dreamer’s rule. If it wasn’t for dreamers, we’d still be telling stories around the campfire. There’d be no such thing as creature comforts. Dreamers make it easier for non-dreamers (everyone has dreams, but non-dreamers are such, because they don’t have the courage to see their dreams through and thus their dreams are taken away from them by those that do go out and fulfill dreams) to live a comfortable life.
Non-dreamers sometimes make more money and have more possessions, but dreamers have more fulfilling lives and are never bored, not to mention are more disciplined, because they don’t get a weekly paycheck (and could really care less) and thus must endeavor to remain lean.
And generally (again, from personal experience) I believe dreamers are overall happier than their counterparts. We’re also more frowned upon by society because we refuse to conform.
Don’t ever be afraid to step out in faith (when you need encouragement, read the 11th chapter of Hebrews, and burn the 6th verse into your brain). Instead, be afraid of your mortality and facing your Creator when He asks of you, "What hast thou done with thy life? How didst thou occupy for me?"
Trust me, you do not want to hear that, but instead these words of comfort from your Lord, "Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into thy rest."
In closing, take these words mentioned by the 19th century poet, Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881) in his work Ode, in which he says of dreamers...
We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world forever, it seems.
Be a leader of your dreams instead of a follower of mediocrity.
Remember, it’s better to try something great and fail, than do nothing and succeed.
Until Next Month, Kevin |
DREAMER’S
RULE!!!