Thou Shalt Not...

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Whilst I was in Greece, I finished off two books that I was halfway through and read 4 from scratch. I’ve also been reading a lot of blogs and articles, mainly with a Christian viewpoint. Whilst I find most of what I read to helpful and challenging, I can’t help but notice the vast amount of articles that tell us, as Christians what we shouldn’t be doing and offering no helpful alternative to what we should be doing. They just feel overwhelmingly negative. 

I will tell you, the ones I tend to read are about relationships. I read one today which I did find interesting as it was about the effect of Rom Coms and how they skew our view of the reality of a relationship. I get it, I do - but I feel like these articles are forcing us to be so un-dream like and so realistic that for me, it feels like the thrill of the chase is being taken out of the equation. Are writers doing this so that we will, to coin an over-used Christian phrase ‘protect our hearts?’ So that we wont be let down when our reality doesn’t involve the man of our dreams turning up at our door with 12 dozen red roses every morning? So that once we’re married it’s not all breakfast in bed, but morning farts as a wake up call? To me, this whole attitude seems a bit fearful. 

I don’t like people telling me that I shouldn’t dream. I have times each day where I like to switch off from everything and spend a bit of time daydreaming. That might involve going on a trip, or a date, or my wedding day or when I’m pregnant. Daydreams allow me to pause reality and think about something entirely different that may get me excited about what is to happen in my future. If it doesn’t happen the way I had dreamt it, then rest assured it will be better. If I wont marry a cowboy, I will marry a man better for me than anyone I could’ve chosen, and we will love each other and our normality, warts and all. If I don’t get my dream job running a cafe then I will be working somewhere I never thought I would be. If I don’t end up living in America, I will be living in a place more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. That is what Faith is. 

I get that people offering wisdom who have 'been there done that' is really helpful and I am thankful for it, but sometimes - and this is what I find to be the hardest part of youth work - we must allow people to learn from their own mistakes, as well as learning important lessons for themselves because whatever happens, sometimes they will not listen. When a relationship comes around, if it isn't what we saw in Pride and Prejudice we will soon learn to change our expectations. We are a generation that learns through doing, and I don't want us to become so fearful with heads full of things we must not do that we begin to fear messing up. Thats a reality of life too. We all go through the same cycles over and over and that is life, though I'm sure these other writers mean well - I think they forget this sometimes! Mistakes are inevitable.

When I was inside some of the most exquisite buildings I have ever beheld, I was thinking about all these people who had dedicated their lives to creating these incredible pieces of art to be placed in a building that exists to give glory to God. I'm sure they could only have dreamt that hundreds of years later, their work was renowned world wide and now draws people in from countries far and wide. I'm sure they probably thought that what they were doing was only going to give pleasure to God, yet there I stood in awe at what they had done. Perhaps at the time they felt like their dream to be a great painter would never happen. But they did it anyway, and now look at them. In the Keats museum, I read about how his life was cut terribly short, at 26 years old he died of tuberculosis. He died thinking he had failed as a poet, though that is what he loved to do. He was inspired to write verses about what he saw and lived. Though at the time, he was slated - there I was stood in a memorial of his life. People told him his dream would fail, but it didn't. 

I have Faith that though God, my life has a higher plan and a better purpose than what I had for it. I believe God will use me in a more beautiful way than I could ever have used myself. If I had my way, it would never be as great as His way will be. Though at times it feels harder, in the end - my heart will be glad for He has fulfilled my every need. I don’t want us all to get so caught up in thinking ‘sorry guys, but your reality will be nothing like what is in that movie, or what is in your daydream - it’s not all about you.’ It’s not all about me, my plans, my purposes but nowhere are we told that we shouldn’t have desires, wants, needs and dreams. God sees our hearts and he put His desires for our lives into them. Don’t be afraid of your future because it wont look exactly as you thought it would, be excited for it! You could end up in a place in which you would never have put yourself, living a life more fulfilled than you could have dreamt. 

Much Love xxx