God Has Big Dreams
Posted by Jake Frost in Faith on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 6:00 AM
One February, I was at Waimea Bay on Oahu. There were monstrous waves—truly gia-normous. I can tell you they were over 20 feet tall, but you would have to see them to understand.
It was awe-inspiring.
Even I, fresh off the plane from a Midwest winter, my skin shining pale as an incandescent bulb, could feel it. There was a charge in the air, a wildness in the roar of the waves—a palpable sense of the ocean’s majesty and power.
Then, as I watched giant swells rise and curl over in a cascade of white, I saw something even more amazing. People. Out there. Amid the towering waves, little specs of humanity bobbed up and down. And they weren’t just bobbing, they were riding those monsters. I sat mesmerized as surfers paddled furiously to catch those waves.
Occasionally a surfer staggered out of the water clutching half a broken board—only to grab a new board and head back out.
Who were these people? Who sees 20-foot waves and thinks, “Hey, let’s grab a stick of wood and jump in!”
But that’s the way people are. They dream big. If you’re born a surfer, you’ll want to test yourself when the big breakers are pounding.
When our daughter was learning to crawl, she reminded me of Waimea Bay. Not just because of the wipe-outs. It was her persistence, her effort, that made me think of the surfers. As many times as she fell, she got up to try again.
It made me think about what we fathers wish for our children. Do we wish for an easy way? With no risk, no worry? Or do we wish for them to have zest, daring, and a lion’s heart ready for big challenges?
I think we want our kids to have a real life, well lived, felt to the marrow. With big dreams and the energy and courage to chase them.
Then what do we wish for ourselves? Mostly to win the lottery. Just kidding (sort of). But really, going through our days sometimes we do more dreading than dreaming. Our thoughts can be more of avoiding—avoiding problems, fear or failure—than of working positively toward something good.
When you chase big dreams, though, it’s not just for yourself. If you want your kids to be big dream chasers, you’ll need to show them how. They’ll learn from watching you chase your dreams.
And when you’re working on your dreams, remember that God also has a dream for you—one bigger than anything you could wish for yourself. So big, in fact, that we can’t even imagine it.
As scripture tells us:
Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard ... what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
We are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. (1 John 3:2)
We are called to one day know God “face to face”, and on that day God will “wipe every tear from [our] eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain”. (Revelation 21:4)
How’s that for a big dream? For us and for our kids?
If we want them to have all that is good, we should put the big dream before them. Let them see it and have a chance at it. Give them inspiration in the form of seeing their parents work toward the same dream.
Only then will they know that it’s a worthy dream—deserving of their care and attention, just as it is of ours.
—Jake Frost is a lawyer and writer who lives near the Mississippi River in St. Paul, MN with his wife and children. He comes from a large family in a small Midwest town and writes for Catholic publications around the country.
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