Worship More and Worry Less: 30 Days of Praiseنموونە

As my husband and I watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green a few years ago, I could feel grief threaten my calm disposition. The actors aptly portrayed the pain of a couple unable to conceive. My heart broke as they wrote down on slips of paper each characteristic they dreamed for a child to have. They placed the inked dreams in a small cedar box and buried it in their garden. This was their way of moving on.

I blinked away the tears and held down the sobs bubbling out of my chest. “They are burying a dream,” I whispered to Mike. A whisper was all I could muster.

“No, they’re planting a seed,” he countered gently.

My spirit jumped.

Sure, we knew from the preview that a little boy would grow from their garden, but my sweet man’s words walked right past the movie and into my heart. “That’s amazing!” I squealed, finding my voice this time.

I’m a dreamer.

And I believe we all need dreams to keep us going and give us purpose. I’m also tenacious (for the most part), not willing to give up. So, the thought of burying a dream seemed almost wrong . . . painfully wrong until Mike’s words changed my perspective.

In the movie, the little boy who grew out of their garden was slightly different than what his parents had hoped. The characteristics written on paper slips were often fulfilled in quirky ways–sometimes opposite to their dreams but always better.

Seeds never look the same after they bloom, either. They are always more beautiful.

Most of us have buried a dream or two. We’ve encountered shut doors so many times that we’ve surrendered to the inevitable heartache and tried to let go of the dream that once pulled us through life. We knew we needed to move forward, so we surrendered it to the deepest caverns of our hearts to start a new chapter.

Years ago, I buried a dream when doors shut firmly in my face. I thought I was okay with this, thankful for the experience of tasting the dream and eager to follow God’s leading for the next season.

But lately I’ve realized that the dream I buried still lives and breathes in me. Its roots go deep. Though painful to relive this desire, it’s reminded me of the necessity to trust God’s goodness and faithfulness. His plans are so much better than mine.

So today I choose to view my buried dream as a planted seed. I know God wants to do much more with my dream than I can. If I don’t surrender to trust, I hold a dead seed in my hand. It has to be buried in order to grow into something beautiful.

Have you buried a dream? Does it help to view it as a planted seed?

You aren’t alone.

Journal

Write down a dream you’ve buried, and a prayer of release and trust for God to do with it more than you can ask or imagine. End the prayer with sentences of praise and worship.