Thought for Today
Psalm 20:4 May he grant you your heart's desire, and fulfill all your plans.
Joel 2:28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Romans 10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Reading devotionals is an integral and important part of my morning routine. Often, before I sit down to write, I read These Days. Sometimes what I read there guides my reflections as I write. Today’s devotional reflected on Psalm 20. It is identified as “A Psalm of David,” and is directed toward the Chief Musician, the Choir Director, the Director of Music or the Leader, depending on the translation. For me, this is a psalm of blessings. It would be a wonderful benediction to end a worship service.
The author of today’s devotional in These Days included a couple of phrases that grabbed my attention. First is, “Sometimes the dreams of our childhood remain unfulfilled.” Is that true for you? That author seems to me to be addressing the aspirations of our youth. Not so much dreams in terms of those flickering images that dance through our minds as we sleep, but rather our hopes, goals and ambitions. Can you even remember what your goals were as a child? I must admit that most of my hopes, goals and ambitions in childhood were very limited in scope. Mostly, as a child, I lived almost day to day. I do not remember wondering much about what I would be when I grew up. I became an engineer more by default than design, engineering being the best college major to utilize my interests in math and science.
“Our dreams are windows into our heart.” Is that author telling me that my heart is as hard, cold and dry as algebra? As barren as geometry? As devoid of emotions like love as is chemistry? I suspect I am reading things too literally.
I do wonder, however, whether my childhood dreams have any bearing on my adult dreams. As a child, the horizons of my life seemed endless. All avenues of intellectual pursuit were open to me (except possibly linguistics or music. Even as a child, I knew some of my limitations!). I could pursue law enforcement, firefighting, the military, medicine, law, anything I might choose. This morning’s author rightly commented, “life intervenes and prevents us from pursuing them.”
I became an engineer. I have no complaints about that as a career, even though I was not even cognizant of engineering as a child. That career path provided a good life. But, eventually, as that author noted, “As we grow, our dreams can change, yet they are no less meaningful to us.” Over your own lifetime, have your dreams changed? Are you still pursuing the hopes, goals and ambitions of your childhood? Your youth? Even of your previous decade?
My own life changed during the 6th decade of my life. During that time, I began hearing God call me to a different vocation. I was raised in the church. We raised our own children in the church. I taught Sunday School at every level in our church. But, I began to hear God’s voice calling me to ‘step up my game.’
Is it true, as that author wrote, “Our dreams are windows into our heart”? Do our dreams, our aspirations, our goals, hopes and ambitions offer evidence of our hearts true nature? Maybe! I agree with “The tug on our heart tells us whom God is calling us to be.”
But, sometimes, we close those windows into our hearts. Life’s concerns, economics and a host of intruding issues can shut those windows and lock them closed. Sometimes those windows are even alarmed by a sort of security system to detect when we might want to open them up.
One of my favorite themes is that we are all called by God. Called to serve God’s plan in God’s kingdom. Sometimes we are called to service outside our comfort zone. Those are times we are tempted to close those windows into our hearts. Those are also times we need to disarm the security systems, unlock the windows and open them as wide as we can. God’s tug on our heart does tell us whom God calls us to be. We just need to heed God’s call.
Stay safe, open those windows and air out your heart, trust God,
Pastor Ray