Chasing Dreams

So there’s a line that some people like to quote on occasion, in varying degrees of flippancy:

“Well, you know, God knows my heart.”

Oddly enough, I’ve heard this line quoted most when someone has messed something up, or is doing something with only half the effort, or in a general sense, up to no good. My usual reaction to this is 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬.

That’s mostly because that has never been a statement from which I have derived any comfort. That’s because I know, to a small extent, what’s in my heart. I generally know how selfish, lazy and/or cowardly, or controlling I tend to be, and that’s just to the extent that I know. I haven’t a clue as to what I might do day-to-day if I happen to let that stuff rule me. Not to mention the fact that the Bible also mentions how deceitful the heart is and how it’s impossible to really ascertain what’s in there. I would say that most of us can corroborate this.

Yesterday I heard a statement from a very wise woman that has been irrevocably imprinted on my brain:

“Why do we live our lives in such a way as to arrive safely at death? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend my life getting good at all the things that don’t matter.”

She went on to speak of following the dreams and visions that are in your heart, chasing it down as though you were chasing a lion. Chasing a dream can be brutal and dangerous to your pride, your comfort, and your sense of safety. This is why so many of us sit, immobilized, because we want to coast through life in comfort without struggle. But very few people who’ve fought and struggled to achieve a dream have regretted the fight.

There is also a new knowledge of oneself, because the struggle to chase that dream will pull things out of you that you never knew were within you–both good and bad. You come to the end of it, maybe a little bruised and abraded, but so much more than you were. In light of this, I have to admit to myself that the phrase “God knows my heart” perhaps isn’t the terrifying phrase I once knew it to be. For if God knows my heart, then truly He knows my sin but ALSO knows the dreams He’s placed there. He knows which dreams I need to pursue and which need to fall by the wayside. He can help me draw it out.

In the pursuit of my dream I will find more of Him and I will more accurately reflect His glory.

So I’m going to be brave and try to chase down a dream, and if I get a little roughed up along the way, that’s okay. By His stripes, I am healed. I want to be good at something that matters. When my life reaches its end I want to stand before God, even if I’m bruised and limping—if it means I did what He set out for me to do.

Ashley the Brave

Photo by Josh Gordon on Unsplash