The Sand Dollar Dream

 

Sometimes I realize I have been in search of something I didn’t even realize I was in search of. I was in need of answers, comfort, hope through a dream, yet little did I know I was in need of any of these things.

Walking along the shores of Long Beach Island I noticed a couple ladies and girls picking up sea shells as if there was no tomorrow. Knowing that the shells on this particular beach has been picked clean of its beauteous shells, I was only slightly confused about the excitement these ladies showed, until I looked down at my own feet. Then everything came to light. There at my feet lay dozens of Sand Dollars scattered across the shore to my extreme amazement and complete confusion. I wasn’t even sure that I should trust the realness of the occasion, but gently bent down and picked up one, tenderly holding it in my hands and then knew it had to be real. Now to some, a Sand Dollar may seem of little significance, but to me it was a childhood dream come to fruition. A dream of impossibilities come to reality. A deep hidden dream buried in the depths of my soul, yet I was certain could never come to pass. A futile dream; useless and of no purpose. A dream and only dream. Have I driven the point across yet? I thought my dream would never come true. But what is the purpose of a dream that can never come to life? What is the purpose of dreaming of something that I am certain will never come to pass? Why dream at all, if one dreams with such pessimism and lack of hope?

As I walked home that day with my heart overflowing with joy and my shoes overflowing with sand dollars a small little thought crept quietly into my head and then burst forth into a brilliant ray of sunshine in my weary soul. If I can have a dream of finding a sand dollar one day and that dream coming true when I was not even looking nor thinking about it, then what about all those other dreams that seem so far away? What about all those other dreams that seem so unreal and so impossible? For example, the dream of me actually marrying a good godly man someday seems like a dream utterly impossible at times. Once again I ask myself why dream with such lack of faith or hope? God seemed to be reminding me through my Sand Dollar Dream, that he can make the most impossible and outrageous dreams come true. In fact, to dream without hope is to make God smaller than he is by limiting him to his abilities and that is what I had been doing.

It’s ok to dream and to dream big and to dream wild and to dream impossible because God loves to do the impossible. God loves for us to dream wild and crazy and glorious for him because he loves to make these wild and crazy and glorious dreams come true when they are dreamt for his glory. But let God lead and follow his lead and be prepared for an answer different, yet far greater than you could ever imagine. Because not even in your wildest of dreams could you dream how glorious and amazingly big and great God really is.