Dream the dream.

Monday, September 6th, 2010

This phrase has been bubbling up within me over the last week.   I have started two other blog topics but am compelled to put them aside for this thought… Dream the Dream.

And until I put my pen to paper, I believed it was a phrase.  Yet as I write, I see through the lessons of English that it is really a sentence.

Now, I know you didn’t expect a review in English today, but stay with me as we explore this powerful thought.

Dream the Dream.  It’s a sentence, a complete thought with the word order having great meaning as well.  It’s not, the dream was dreamt, which is past tense, therefore, a statement of fact.  No, Dream the dream is direct—almost commanding with a sense of urgency and promise.  It is a complete thought that says, “Do this and something will change”.

It’s only a three-word sentence, but is a complete thought with subject and verb.  The first dream is the verb.  Dream—it’s the action that is being called out, the action for / of the subject, dream.

What does Dream the dream look like?  How do we dream a dream?

It happens when our mind and imagination get together and play with a thought or idea. We create a scenario within our creative space, adding the details, colors, texture, emotions, setting, and people. We ponder and muse; we dream the possibilities.  Every time we hold it and look at it again and again, playing out the prospects, new potential unfolds within our mind.  We gain new insight, wisdom, and perspective that lead to greater understanding, potential and appreciation.

We hold the dream in our creative space.

You may say, ah… that will take a lot of discipline, but really, we are all too familiar with dreaming the dream and don’t realize it.  Let me say it this way, we usually dream the nightmare.

Every time we play out the boss coming in and firing us, then telling our loved ones we are out of the job, and what it will look like when we loose our home… we are dreaming the nightmare.  When we picture our loved ones traveling and are concerned about an accident, imagine what could happen and what we would do if it did occur… we are dreaming the nightmare.  We call it worry.  We take a thought, an idea and give it place in our creative space.  We dream the bad dream.

We need to dream the dream.  You may ask “why”?  Because everything starts with a thought.  Look around you. Where did the inventions we use in our every day life originate?  They originated with the seed, a thought, an idea.

The light bulb, started with an image put in Edison’s creative space.  Played with over time, Edison found, discovered and navigated a way to bring the idea out of his creative space and into reality.  His passion for creating the possibility pushed him past the many obstacles and opportunities to fail.  He dreamed the dream and the outcome came forth—the light bulb. We use it everyday and others have invented and developed so many more things because Edison dreamed the dream.

Stop here and ask yourself…”WHY do we give place in our creative space for the bad dream?  Why do we allow such destructive sabotaging lies into our creative space?”

We don’t realize the power and potential that resides in our creative space.  We do not respect our creative space.

I believe that the imagination, our creative space, is holy.  Holy isn’t about the robes of religion.  Holy simply means being dedicated and set apart to God and His service.

We are the only creation that has the ability to create.  Genesis says we were created in God’s image and likeness.  We were created with the ability to imagine and create and it is all for a purpose.  Genesis also tells us that mankind was charged to multiply and have dominion in their territory.  Multiply means more than birthing a population that inhabits the earth’s surface.  It means to bring increase.

Look around you.  Mankind has mined the earth, discovered, and engineered, (the list could continue), so many things.   Mankind has multiplied, increased and caused to increase in quantity and quality.  Our creative space, our imagination, was given to us so that we—you and I, could carry out the request in service to God.

It’s as simple as helping and serving humanity—caring for God’s creation, “When you give even a cup of water to the least of these, you have given it unto me.”  So, the design and build of a portable well that would provide fresh water to people who live in countries without safe water would be using our creative space in service to God.

Our creative space has purpose.  Determine to honor that gift and ability and use it to support your future and not sabotage or undermine it.  Don’t misuse your creative force.  Instead, dream the dream.

Give place in your creative space for the dream—the ideas, innovations and thoughts that you hold in your heart.   Here are a few questions that you could answer that will help bring clarity to what you hold.

• What is it that you want to share with the world?
• What is the message that you long to release from your heart through the gates of our lips?
• What would you lay your life down for?
• What cause, injustice, or effort would you dedicate your life to and for?

When you answer these kinds of questions, you‘ll find the seed of your dream.   That is the purpose of your creative space.

The dream…

A dream isn’t a thought you have one day and a deal you strike the next.  A dream is not like a fast food drive through or microwave popcorn.

A dream is our life’s purpose—it’s the vision for which we were designed.  The dream will give us a our sense of purpose, the passion to sustain our focus to finish, the provision for what we’ll need in the journey, and the pure pleasure that fulfillment and significance brings to our life.

Dream the dream.  The message is not. “Get the thought and go.”  No, dream the dream.  Give the dream time and space to grow, shape, mould, conform, and embody the fullness and uniqueness only you can give it.  The seed was placed in YOUR care, so you must bring yourself to its design and creation.

Once that takes place, you will cast the dream.  It will move from your creative space, through your voice and into the atmosphere.  When you have taken the time to dream the dream, you won’t be able to contain it or its energy.  When you take time to dream the dream it won’t be some awkward foreign thing you are trying to do.  No, it will fit surely in your hand and will be fulfilled by your passion.

Dreams are unique.  They aren’t cookie cutter images mass produced by big machines.  A dream is a vision of and for our life.  It is why we get up every morning. It is why you and I do the things we do.  Yet, when we don’t give it time in the creative space, we neglect and negate the life it holds.

The creative space is like the womb that catches the fertilized egg.  It grasps it, pulls it to itself and then nourishes and nurtures it 24/7—providing what it needs to grow and develop the child.

The womb even enlarges itself to hold and carry the changing figure that already has expression and purpose in the world around.  The womb nurtures the life of the child until there is no longer anymore room—there is no more stretch. That’s when the birthing begins.  The push in direction, the pain of transition, and the awkward positions that make birthing possible are all done with an expectation.  There is the expectation of hearing the voice of arrival, seeing the expression of love and taking in the fragrance of new life.

Just like the birth of a child, we can’t birth a dream that hasn’t fully developed—it won’t succeed outside of the creative space.  No, we must dream the dream.

We begin the process when we acknowledge and invite a possibility or idea into the space of imagination.  We must grasp it—not grab it.  We must grasp it, seize it and hold it firmly.  Don’t let it get away through doubt and insecurity.  Own the dream.  Steward it, honor it.  Get a mental hold of it.  Hold it until we comprehend—what will this do / look like?  How will it help others? What will that be like?  We need to give time to comprehend, so we can act decisively to the advantage of the dream.  Only when we take ownership of it, will we make healthy choices to nurture, protect and promote its life.

Because this is a process, the dream will need different things to nurture it throughout its incubation.  Maybe it will need a business perspective or insight and wisdom of leadership.  Maybe it will need experience with a certain discipline.  What ever it will need, nurture the dream.  Do not attempt to birth it early.  Invest the time and energy to nurture the dream.

Dreaming the dream will also bring people and resources to your path.  Have you ever noticed that not until you are pregnant did you see all the pregnant girls around you?  Ever notice that not until you bought that brand of automobile, did you see all the same model of car on the road?  When we buy into the idea, when we take ownership of it and allow it to be nurtured within our creative space, we become aware of what is around us.  Dreaming the dream opens our eyes to things we didn’t know were in our world.  We meet people we would normally walk by and see opportunity that we would have missed.  No, dreaming the dream allows us to SEE.

Oh, and there will be the, S-T-R-E-T-C-H.  The dream will demand our thinking to be enlarged, our heart to be strengthened and our confidence made durable.  Just like the womb must stretch to give place for the child, our heart and mind must stretch.  If we don’t stretch, the dream will not develop.  Yield to the stretch.  For this dream to bring fulfillment to our heart, our heart must be enlarged.  We need to make room for the dream and those it will employ and impact.  We yield to the stretch until we cannot carry the dream inside any longer.

When there is no more room in the stretch, we will have to birth it.  The pain of transition and the uncomfortable position and situations will lend to its entrance.  Dreaming the dream will change our walk and change our image.   We will be prepared and positioned to do the dream and because we nurtured the dream and allowed it to change us, it will be our expression of love and fragrance of life to our world.

When you and I hold and nurture the dream, our path will populate with provision.  People, opportunity, experience, knowledge, and wisdom will show up to pollinate and help build the dream.  Dream the dream—when we heed it’s instruction and expect a result, we will be awakened and aware of the possibilities.

Dream the dream—It’s a complete thought and an instruction that implies there is an expected result.  It commands us with a sense of urgency and promise.  It says, “Do this and things will change.”

Today, dream the dream.