Dreaming Bigger

Have you ever allowed yourself to dream? Really dream? The world is so big, and the God we serve is so much bigger still. Anything is truly possible with Him.

Is it because—could it be—you haven’t dared to dream big because you are afraid? Afraid of turning out to be nothing special, afraid of failing, afraid of expectations, afraid of losing attention and people’s praise, fear of responsibility?

Legitimate fears, all of them. If we dare to discover what we are truly capable of and dare to push our boundaries, we can no longer claim ignorance and are responsible for maximizing our potential. If we dare do our best on a regular basis, we do often lose attention (the squeaky wheel gets all the oil, after all), and why would praise you for doing what they’ve come to expect of you? It is so much easier to cultivate low expectations in others, so we can easily exceed them and gain praise.

Likewise, if we dare pursue excellence and succeed, we must bear meeting those higher expectations and risk disappointing those expectations; failure is now easier than praise. For if we dare to reach high, we will, at some point fail. We don’t like failure because it reminds us we are human . . . fallible . . . limited. Just like anyone else. And if there’s one thing we don’t want to be, it’s like everyone else.

No, it’s so much easier to never try. Safer, more comfortable. And we can always nourish the hope of “I might have been ________, if I had _______,” and no one can contradict it, for we speak in terms of possibility, not reality. Yes, it’s definitely safer to live with potential than to live out our potential.

But that was never God’s plan. He created each of us unique. He expects each of us to live out that uniqueness to the fullest extent and even beyond, for unlike humanity, He refuses to lower His expectations just because we refuse to try and meet them. He knows whom He created us to be, and yes, He created us to be someone more than we are capable of being. Is that because He wishes to see us fail? No. He wishes to be the One to do the creating. The only way that is possible is by us releasing ourselves to His touch, to His dream—His BIG dream—for us.

So will you? Will you release yourself to Him, to dream His dream for you?