My youngest child Isaac is turning seven in a few weeks. He has a dream. He lives, talks, prays, plays and visualizes his dream every day, week in and week out, and has done for 2-3 years now. He is a lesson to me in what it looks like to be focused and to really, really want something.
Practicalities, finances, and just the realities of life could, if I’m not careful squash Isaac’s dream. But our task as his parents isn’t to do that. Our job is to help him whatever way and however we can. To teach him how to pray, how to keep believing, how to speak those things that are not as though they are, and to position himself and get him ready for his dream to come to pass. (Romans 4:17)
Isaac’s dream is to own a horse. He can tell you a myriad of facts about horses, watches YouTube videos on horse whispering, and can almost recite the Man from Snowy River movies word for word.
So today I booked Isaac in for riding lessons for his birthday gift. Why? Because we love Isaac and we understand how much this means to our little boy. If he dreams of owning a horse he needs to know how to care for and ride one. We are helping to make his dream a reality in whatever way we can.
What a positive impact on the world we could all make if we found out what people are believing for, what they are dreaming for, and chose to help them in whatever way we can. We’d discover there is great fulfillment in focusing not just on ourselves but on others.
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Everybody can be somebody when somebody understands and believes in them and their dreams.
The time and effort required on our part to understand and help somebody feel important and to validate the desire of their hearts is minimal compared to the impact it makes to them.
The exciting consequence of encouraging and helping others is that when we help one person, we are really impacting a whole lot of other people also. What we give to one person overflows into the lives of all the people that person impacts too. I think that looks a lot like what real genuine love. The sort of love that the world desperately needs to see and experience.
The bible talks about that sort of love: God’s describes love as;“ patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs. Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up”. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
The sad fact is that many people just stop believing and dreaming.People need love and encouragement not to let go of hopes and dreams. “Most people die from the neck up by age twenty-five because they stop dreaming” (Benjamin Franklin)
In the end the ability to understand, help and encourage others is a choice. Each person is capable of having the ability to understand and help someone else become all they are meant to be. Because in the end dreams aren’t enough as important as dreams are, they aren’t enough. Why? Because dreams need wings to take a person where they really want to be. They need help and encouragement to fly, (or to ride in Isaac’s case).
When was the last time you went out of your way to make someone feel special? When did you take the effort to help and encourage someone to reach their potential or accomplish their dream? I encourage you to make a decision to be a person who does all they can to make others people’s dreams fly, and then watch the impact multiply.
Prayer:Lord help me to understand others around me. Help me to listen and see their dreams and potential, and to be someone who gives into that dream. Make me a person who influences this world with your love and goodness. In Jesus Name Amen.