Dream on

As a life coach, I spend a lot of time talking about dreams.

Not the kind you have when you’re sleeping. The really powerful kind: The kind you have when you’re AWAKE.

And I don’t mind telling you, it’s an absolute blast.

We start by talking about goals and plans and after a little digging, I can usually get the client to choke out their dream(s). In many cases, it’s something they’ve never said out loud to anyone else in their lives.

Some people choke them out, like I’ve been torturing them for information for days and they finally break. Others burst out with great enthusiasm, like the pressure has been building for years and they were just waiting for someone to ask.

Either way, I consider it a holy privilege to be trusted with such powerful and precious information.

I get so tickled when I get on the phone with a new client who wants to talk about increased productivity or work/life balance or losing 20 pounds and after a few sessions, the dream accidentally slips out that they’ve always wanted to take a year off of life and travel the world.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I interrupt. “Can we go back to what you just said? About traveling the world (or writing a book or changing careers or whatever it is)?”

They always start backtracking, embarrassed that the truth did, in fact, come out. They apologize for it, say they know it’s just a pipe dream and doesn’t make any sense and try to steer the conversation back to ‘real life.’

And what they inevitably mean by ‘real life’ is the daily grind, sans dreams.

When did ‘real life’ become another term for what we’re already doing? And is it possible that what we’re already doing is NOT, in fact, REAL LIFE?

The two Bible verses that God keeps rolling around in my head like a rock tumbler are John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” and 1 Timothy 6:19, “In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Life that is truly life.
Life to the full.
Life that is truly life.
Life to the full.

These phrases haunt me, entice me, invite me whenever I sit still long enough. (I’ve had the flu all week. I’ve had PLENTY of time sitting still.) I ponder them, wonder about them, and puzzle and puzzle till my puzzler is sore.

Maybe LIFE, I think, doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe LIFE…perhaps…means a little bit more!

(Shout out to Dr. Seuss. And the Grinch.)

More indeed.

The idea of life being more than what it already is scares the crap out of some people. The responses I got from my post from a few weeks ago, What do you want?, was incredibly eye opening.

Some people responded saying they had absolutely no idea. They’ve been so busy trying to keep all the plates in the lives spinning (work, school, kids, marriage, activities, church, volunteering) that they didn’t even know how to START thinking about what they wanted.

And like I said in that post, I think we need to know what we want. I think we need to admit what we want. And, in some cases, I think we’re SUPPOSED to want it.

I didn’t dream that big when I was growing up. Life was good. I wasn’t restless. There wasn’t some nagging thing I felt like I was supposed to do with my life and wouldn’t find peace until I did it.

My dream was that of many others: Marriage, kids, maybe a job I don’t hate, grandkids someday, retirement, happily ever after.

Also known as The American Dream.

So I went out and got it. Then I lost it. Then I got it again. And I’m sitting here in it, living it, right now. Dream come true. Check.

Some of you are living it too. Livin’ the minivan dream. It’s good stuff. Some days I just can’t believe how lucky I am to live this life.

[Trigger warning: Truth bomb alert. I’m about to say something potentially offensive, maybe even blasphemous to our way of life.]

What if The American Dream is a trap? (Cue Admiral Akbar.)

What if The American Dream is the ultimate distraction, a beautiful picture painted by Satan himself to convince us that’s all we should ever want and lull us into a ‘life’ devoid of all purpose and passion?

AND the deceiver whispers that if we want more, we’re selfish, greedy, discontent. So if we ever do give ourselves permission to dream, we must keep them to ourselves, locked away in a trunk in the back corner of our minds.

Our God-given dreams are silenced and shamed. And we settle into desperately trying to be satisfied with the life that we have, reminding ourselves we have all we ever wanted.

Now I’m not bashing The American Dream. I love it. I LIVE it. Every day.

But I know that’s not all I was made for. Yes, God has put me here for a time such as this. But I know, I KNOW, that I was created for more. Not in an Eat-Pray-Love-leave-your-family-and-move-to-Italy-to-find-yourself kind of more.

But living with purpose. Presence. And power. Staying open to whatever God has created me to do and living on the edge, staying willing to DO it whenever it presents itself.

Life that is truly life.
Life to the full.
Life that is truly life.
Life to the full.

Maybe LIFE…perhaps…means a little bit more!

I have friends that were living The American Dream in spades. And then one day, God moved. And they moved with Him. Walked away from it all.

I couldn’t believe it. I thought they were nuts. I was confused. Skeptical. But now incredibly inspired (and jealous of their courage).

Is that the only way to do it? Does God only have ONE SINGLE PLAN for every unique individual He created, with only ONE WAY to do it right?

Of course not. But you know what? It’s what God wanted for THEIR lives. And they big, fat took hold of the life that is truly life. Nailed. It.

There’s nothing wrong with The American Dream UNLESS you stop there and coast through the rest of your life. It’s a sham, you guys. It’s not enough. And if it’s ALL we ever wanted, we have forgotten who we are. And WHOSE we are.

This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you,’ Ephesians 5:14.

God’s dream that He put in your heart, ‘deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties,’ is bigger. Not necessarily grander (but it may be!), but bigger. It may involve changing EVERYTHING. It may involve changing a few things. It may involve changing nothing, but staying ready.

It’s something we have to take hold of. We’re staring at a downed power line, working up the nerve to pick it up. Because we know that once we take hold of it, IT will take hold of US. And never let us go. (Yes, Lord. Let it be so.)

Beth Moore said, “Nobody makes it to their Promised Land by accident.”

What about you? you say. You sit there in your spot on your couch with your Diet Coke and laptop and preach to us about God wanting more for our lives?

Okay, okay. I don’t have it all worked out yet.

But you know what? I’m workin’ on it. I’ve felt the electric surge of the Holy Spirit shoot through my body and I’m chasing it down.

I felt it when I was in Haiti (which is why I have to go back. Sorry, Mom.).

I feel it when I unlock the dusty trunks in people’s hearts and expose their secret dreams to sunlight.

I feel it when I write these blogs.

I feel it when I speak to groups, both Christian and secular, about living life to the full. Because we are ALL wired for it.

I feel it when I connect deeply with friends over lunch or drinks.

I feel it when I connect deeply with my husband and children.

For this season, the life that is truly life for me IS The American Dream (plus more). The American Dream Deluxe (which is really God’s Dream with some overlap). Who knows what He wants for me in the next season?

We have to take hold of it, you guys. We’ve got one shot at this life. And God’s got big dreams for us and our time here.

I hearby give you all permission to dream those dreams and then to wake up and make them your reality.

In the same lecture, Beth goes on to say, “The only person who can keep you out of your Promised Land is you.” True story.

As the great theologian, Steven Tyler, says, Dream on. Dream until your dream comes TRUE.

Life that is TRULY life.

Yes, please.