Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What Dreams May Come


What Dreams May Come

What is a dream? According to dictionary.com, a dream is an aspiration, a goal, or an aim; however, according to the same definition/description contained on the website dictionary.com, a dream is also described as a wild or vain fantasy, something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence. So what does it mean to have a dream? To have a dream simply means that an individual has a dream, a desire, or a goal that he or she has aspired to reach.
Although we have all had a dream at one point in our lives, many of us have forgotten the dreams and have settled for less than we aspired to be. Looking back on my life in reflection, I can clearly remember having dreams of being a doctor, a lawyer, and a fireman to name a few; however, at this point in my life those dreams have yet to be realized, but why? Did I forget about these dreams, or did I simply choose another path? The truth is that I simply gave up on my dreams; unfortunately, many of us have given up on our dreams and have settled for living lives that simply do not meet the standards we had set for ourselves only a few years ago. Well, now that we have arrived at the corner of dead dreams and assassinated aspirations, what do we do? Well the answer to that question can be found in the pages of the Holy Bible, also known as Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

Dead dreams are like dry bones; although the dry bones are recognizable as a parts of an individual’s body, they are scattered about and disconnected, the true identity of who the individual was in life has been all but forgotten, gone like the wind. This same exact  thing happens to our dreams, the further away we move from that dream or aspiration we once had, the more the dream fades away until it is nothing more than a passing memory, dry bones in a forgotten place; however, we can give our old dead dreams new life. An example of how we can give our old dreams new life can be found in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 37:-14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD

Although the preceding group verses has most commonly interpreted as God returning life to the nation of Israel and the returning of many Jewish people to the ancient homeland of the Hebrew people, we can apply these principles to our lives today. In verse three of the preceding verses, God asks Ezekiel “Can These Bones Live” and Ezekiel responded “Oh Lord God, Thou Knowest”. As Ezekiel continues to speak to God, the Lord instructs him to prophesy and speak life over the dry bones; as Ezekiel begins to follow the directions from God, the bones began to do just as they were instructed to do, they begin to live.

Sometimes in our own lives, we arrive at a deep valley containing our own dry bones; although these “dry bones” may be in the form of dead dreams, forgotten aspirations, or even bad relationships, we can do as Ezekiel has done, we can Prophesy over the “dry bones” in our lives. Just as God instructed Ezekiel to speak life over the dry bones, we are expected to speak life over the “dry bones” in our lives, speak life over death in all that we do. So, what does this all mean? Basically, our destiny is in our own hands, God will not force us to do anything that we do not want to do, we are all given free will; however, if we speak life over death, God is faithful and just to honor our request. I would like to encourage you to speak life over the dry bones in your life, speak life over death, begin today and you WILL achieve your goals; only you can imagine what dreams may come.http://www.holybible.com/