Monday, June 7, 2010

Dreams that Become Dead Bugs in a Jar.

I was sitting outside tonight, it is incredibly beautiful out by the way, and as I was sitting there I noticed the lightening bugs lighting up the sky. I can't remember the last time I saw that many. Seriously. It got me thinking about childhood. Do you remember a time when it was thrilling to catch a lightening bug. I mean looking back on it now I'm not sure what all the hype was about. Most adults jump through interesting hurdles to avoid being in the presence of bugs. There was a time though when we were enchanted. Our eyes lit up like the tale end of these flying glowing lights with wonder at the sight of them. We couldn't wait to capture one. It's like wrapping your hands around magic. Holding these small twinkling lights that hang in the sky by the flutter of wings caused our hearts to race. When we finally chased one down after many tries what was it that we did? We wanted to put it in a jar. Why is that do you think? How often in our lives when we come across something so mesmerizing do we want to just hold on to it? It's then we hear that dream killing voice (in our small wondrous minds) of our parents who tell us we need to let it go. How absurd! How on earth could someone think to let something so incredible go?!

Here's my attempt at an analogy from the sight I saw tonight. You see our parents seem to know something that we don't know. What happens when you keep those little gems in that jar? They suffocate. They go hungry. They run out of life. It was then that I realized the parallel between the funny beings and our own personal dreams. There are times in our lives when a dream flutters in front of us and lights up and catches our eye. It captures us. We get excited. However, in our foolishness, we want to hold on to it so tightly and are afraid to let it go that we try to seal it tight "in a jar". The problem is the same in that if we try to hold on to this idea or dream without "letting it fly" then it will end up just suffocating without anything to feed it. Now I understand that every analogy breaks down at some point, but what I'm trying to say is that it is not healthy to try to contain a dream that needs to breath, feed, grow, and take flight. Our problem is though that we are afraid to fly. If we just sit on the floor in our bedrooms staring at that glimmer in the jar we can see at all times exactly where that dream lives. The problem is that the next morning when we wake up, to our dismay, the dream (like the lightening bug) is no longer alive.

So since I'm not sure who, if anyone, really reads this I am challenging myself. Take the lid off the jar and let the dream fly. If I want to see how that dream plays out I can't be afraid to fly with it. The other option I can see happening is that we may muster up the understanding to let a dream fly, but fear may hold us back from following it and that is just as sad and scary an ending as letting it die.

So what's the point? The point is to have courage. Have faith. Our God is the creator of all things and there should be no fear in seeing how these amazing things play out. No, we should not fear them. We should chase them to see where they go. Always seeking direction and guidance as we journey, but journey nonetheless. A friend of mine and I once said to each other "We may not know where we are going, but if we don't start moving we will never get anywhere."