Oooh, what an awful thing to say on a Sunday morning. Palm Sunday, of all times.
And I don't really hate Billy Crystal, though I do suffer the Red Sox fan's reflex of despising anyone or anything adorned with a Yankee insignia.
But I do envy Billy because this week he lived my dream. (Okay, the dark side of my dream, given the whole New York Yankee thing.) For his 60th birthday, the Yankees signed him to a one-day contract and he got to bat in an actual game. He struck out but word is he actually got the bat on the ball and hit one foul of the first base line.
Marj and I are teaching a Sunday School class on the book of Daniel. Today's ice-breaker question is: "Have you ever sacrificed your dream for the good of someone else, or for the greater good?"
Today we'll be looking at chapter 10. Israel has been in exile for 70 years and Daniel is now into his 80's. Cyrus has given Israelites permission to return to Jerusalem and re-build the temple. This is something Daniel has longed for since being taken to Babylon. And yet, when permission is given to return, Daniel stays behind. Scholars believe it's because he could serve Israel--and God--better by remaining in his post of high authority and interceding for the people there.
Daniel didn't ink that one-day contract.
I'm of the age where I can't help but think about unfulfilled dreams. When I speak to women's groups, I joke about the realization when I was about 10 that I would never play for the Boston Red Sox, simply because I was a girl. I go on to unfulfilled dreams...singer, dancer, astronaut.
Writer was never in my plans. When my sister Janice Freeman was a star pharmaceutical rep, it didn't enter her mind that she would become a fitness trainer, and serve many women who are rediscovering their own dreams.
God wills what He will, and it's a blessing--and a challenge. Those Israelites who returned home, found rubble and opposition.
Tell me your dreams. Tell me what you've given up, and what you've found. And if you dare, tell me God's dreams for you.
4 comments:
surrendered: "four kids as fast as I can get 'em."
found: two adopted children, 3.5 years apart, and an absolute trust God knows what He is doing with and in my life.
His dream for me? I'm going to chicken out and say ...obedience, in the big things and the small.
I'm in the process of discovering what God's dream is for me in the moment of my life. Finish this book, for one. But beyond that, I have many things spinning in my head that I would like to do. I'm trying to patiently wait for God to reveal which of them to grab onto, and which to let spin out into space.
I never did get to be a cowgirl, live on a ranch or any of that stuff.
20 years ago, I would never have imagined me to be the me I am now. But I am better, and richer than I would have imagined, I think.
I wanted to be a writer since I was 8. I put it on hold because I wanted a family more. Now the kids are grown and I'm back to writing. No regrets. Well, except I haven't sold another book yet LOL.
The dream that I had to give up was that my unborn son would live.
But God's dream for me was to create a writer out of that loss.
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