I was having lunch with a friend the other day and we were talking about small towns. I am from a small town, population approximately 1200. We don’t have a stop light, but we do have a flashing yellow light. One of the biggest things to ever hit my hometown was the opening of Subway. As a small child I always dreamed of something bigger. I knew there was bigger world out there and someday I would find it. However, many people in my path tried to squelch those dreams. “You’re gonna stay here forever like the rest of us,” some would say. “Stop dreaming and get a job.” “Come back to reality Sundi Jo.”
Though many people tried to put the fire of my dreams out, deep inside that flame never completely went out. As chidlren, my friends and I would sit around and talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be famous, or a vetenarian, depending on the day. Some of my friends wanted to be teachers. Some of them simply said they wanted to be a wife and a mom. I thought that was the craziest thing ever!
As we got older, we still talked about our dreams. We would lounge around in our pajamas at a slumber party and talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be a writer. Some still wanted to teach. And some still just wanted to be a wife.
Where would we live? I wanted to be as far away from my hometown as possible. When others would say they wanted to buy a house and
settle there, my lip would curl and so many questions would come to my mind. Why? Why would anyone want to stay? “There’s bigger things out there,” I would proclaim. One particular friend always said, “I don’t want bigger things. Being here with my family is what I want.” For years I never understood.Here I sit, ten years after graduation, writing. I’m still pursuing my dreams, and the road has been rough in doing so, mainly because I kept trying to do it myself without God’s help. Those friends who had the same dreams I did ten years ago are fulfilling theirs as well. They still live in my hometown. They are wives. They are mothers.
I realized recently that I too had squelched their dreams, just like those who had told me to stop dreaming outside of my hometown. What is dreaming big? It doesn’t have to be living in some high-rise in the city, writing a best-selling novel, and having sushi for dinner. It doesn’t have to be as the CEO of some multi-million dollar company. It doesn’t have to be graduating with a Master’s degree. Big dreams can be simple, such as being the best mother and wife you can be.
I am guilty of trying to blow out their flames, just as those who tried to blow mine out. C-o-n-v-i-c-t-e-d!
Dream Big! No matter what that dream is.
What is your BIG dream?
I can honestly say that what my dreams were in high school are nothing like what they are now. To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what I wanted to be. God had different plans for me and even though sometimes I have to think “God, are you sure about this?” I also follow where he leads me.
At this point however, my dreams are for the people I love to come to know Christ with the deep conviction that I have. My dream is that my children will experience the all encompasing passion that I have felt and continue to feel. My dream is that my husband and I will lose count of all the high schoolers we introduce to Christ. My dream is that when I leave this world, there Jesus will stand with his arms open wide and proclaim “Welcome home child!”
What can I say, when I dream, I dream BIG!!
Great post my friend and remember no dream can be squelshed without us allowing it to be!
LOVE your dream, and your uplifting encouragement. So proud to call you friend.
I think that your post captured the ethos of small town dreaming. I too grew up in a small town, now I live in another small town, and God works in all people: some people He places in their home town and others He moves according to His purpose. Those He calls into marriage and motherhood perhaps have His highest call for consider that His choisest servants came from godly homes. Timothy, Moses, and the Lord Jesus had a godly heritage that shaped them into men of God; in history we see the Wesley brothers, Jonathan Edwards, and William Carey who were reared by godly parents; and so God places us according to His purpose. The challenge of our dreams is to aspire to the place of Archippus in Colossians 4:17: “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.” I suppose that our dreams are conduits of action but may God spur us onto the tasks that build His kingdom upon the earth.
Wow! Great insight. Thanks so much for sharing. God Bless!
Love this post. Very profound.
Thank you!