Dream Seeds: Part 2

In my previous post, I referred to the concept of dream seeds –
pictures from our imagination hidden away in our heart.  I mentioned
how these seeds take time to germinate and required the right
conditions in order to flourish. I spoke about dreams and how they
required both patience and dogged commitment if we want to see and
enjoy their manifestation and I concluded with a challenge to
resurrect dead dreams or in the case of deferred desires, to cling to
the hope of eventual fulfilment.

Now some of you might be sighing and I wouldn’t be surprised if others
are thinking: I’ve heard this all before.  I’ve tried the
goals/time-management thing and it just doesn’t work!  If this is you,
then I suspect you have not read Donna B. Comeaux’s  article “Success is a ‘choice’ away”, as recommended in my first post.  If that  is the case, then I encourage you to read it now before going any  further.  However, if you have read it (but forgotten the message and  challenge of this thought-provoking post), then my advice to you is:  STOP making excuses – instead, make opportunities! Become a  dream-achiever.

Easier said than done?  I both agree with you and relate.  But who
said following our dreams would be easy? Experience of everyday life
with its twists and turns should prepare us for the reality, yet still
we can feel flummoxed by the task of discovering and developing our
potential. Still, we expect the process of achieving our dreams to be
easy. Why?

Is it because we’ve been brainwashed by bulletins,
deceived over documentaries and seduced with stories about businesses,
celebrities and entrepreneurs that have become an “overnight success”?
But we know better than that – right?  We know that there’s no way
these individuals got up one morning and experienced success the
following day, week or month. So if we have somehow fallen into this
make-believe trap, we need to ask ourselves: why should it be any
different for me?

I’ve realized that it takes courage to achieve your dreams.  It takes
courage because there will be obstacles. Listen to what the Brazilian
author of best-selling and internationally acclaimed book, “The
Alchemist”, has to say:

“I was struggling to establish myself as a writer and to follow my
path despite all the voices telling me it was impossible.  And little
by little, my dream was becoming reality. Ten, a hundred, a thousand,
a million copies sold in America.

…The book has been translated into fifty-six languages, has sold more
than twenty million copies, and people are beginning to ask: What’s
the secret behind such a huge success?

The only honest response is: I don’t know.  All I know is that, like
Santiaga the shepherd boy [protagonist] we all need to be aware of our
personal calling.  What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing.
It is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. […] However, we
don’t all have the courage to confront our dream.” Paolo Coelho

So there we have it. One dream-achiever’s frank account of his journey
towards success – a journey that required him to overcome overwhelming
obstacles of self-doubt, personal struggles, nay-sayers and
dream-slayers, until eventually the arduous terrain altered and he
found himself on ‘Success Street’.

In “Forgetting Your Past – Turn Your Pain Into Purpose”, Bob Gass says:
“The greatest tragedy that could happen to you would be to grow old
and know that somewhere along the way you’d lost yourself, and never
succeeded at being who God called you to be.”

Another writer believes that a wealth of dreams and unfulfilled potential lies forever lost within burial grounds. The late Myles Munroe, author of “Understanding Your Potential”, mourned the loss of untapped resources within individuals, which result in aimless lives, haphazard decisions and the tragedy of what should have been.

Do you regret wasted years and lost opportunities? Then ask your
Heavenly Father, to redeem the time that you have left here on earth.
He is capable of making you super-productive… of accelerating your
progress.

Remember Joseph? His dreams of power and prestige seemed
ridiculous, even impossible when he was sold into slavery and later
imprisoned but he continued to hone his abilities, working for and
serving others with diligence.  At God’s appointed season, Joseph was
promoted to the position of Pharaoh’s right-hand man – his dreams came
true!

Oprah Winfrey is credited as having said: “The biggest adventure you
can take is to live the life of your dreams.”  My question and
challenge to you is: will you? Will you leave the security of your
comfort zone and embark on that adventure? Will you tap into your
potential? Will you follow your dream?

Congratulations to those of you who have already discovered your
God-given purpose and are fulfilling your dreams  – keep going, keep
achieving! For those of us who may be struggling to find that path,
I’ll leave you with this final thought by Janet Autherine, author of “Growing into Greatness with God: 7 Paths to Greatness for our Sons and Daughters”:

“Greatness is finding your natural talent, fuelling it with passion,
planting it in well-nourished soil, and toiling in the garden until it
breaks through the earth and reaches for the stars.”

RESOURCE LINKS:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061233846
http://www.amazon.com/Forgetting-Your-Past-Turn-Purpose/dp/0882708171
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgetting-Your-Past-Bob-Gass/dp/0882708171
http://www.amazon.com/understanding-your-potential-discovering-hidden/dp/156043046X

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