Rise and Shine 12: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

“A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep”, sings Cinderella in the movie Cinderella by Walt Disney.  I loved that song and that movie as a small child; I love it still.  In fact, it touched me so profoundly that I can still sing that song in its entirety… and often do.

A heart makes many wishes during the human life of its owner, and it doesn’t matter whether that human is asleep or awake. Yet many of those dreams never reach the light of day.  Why?  Having dreams and finding a way to make those dreams come true brings out the best parts in each of us.   I believe that the heart and soul sing in glorious harmony when we are creating, seeking, and living our dreams.  Again, why do so many dreams never reach the light of day?  I believe the answer is a complicated one.

Perhaps a history of my dreams will shed some light.  I started a “Bucket List” as a very small child, and the things on my list were small — a pinwheel, five extra minutes of play with my best friend, a soft yellow kitten.  Those tiny wishes were as big to my young and innocent heart as marrying Prince Charming was to a young woman of the 1950s.  As I grew, my dreams grew.   I became a young woman and dreamed of a wondrous and charmed life — one in which I would earn a college degree,  marry Prince Charming, and have children.  Some of my dreams came true; some did not.  Twice I have had to rise from the ashes of my life like the mythical Phoenix.  I did not rise by my own strength; I rose by the grace of God.

My experiences are not unique.  Wounded hearts and souls are common to this earthly journey.  The corpses of dreams great and small litter one path after another as human lives are shattered by the fears that “I am not enough” and that this hollow, empty life is my punishment.  The pain makes it very difficult to see clearly or to believe there is any hope. Then grace appears; the same grace that saved me is ready and waiting to save you.  The answer to dreams coming true is as simple as changing your focus.  Turn your eyes to Eternity, reach out your hand, and touch the face of God.   Suddenly, miraculously, you know once and for always that you are enough.  Dreams can come true for you… and the greatest dream of all, forever, is yours.