When my daughter was three years old, I
wrote the following:
Countless
times I’ve commented that I love little girls at Nadia’s age—I love their
imagination and dreaminess. The last couple of days have found me visiting
these thoughts once again. Nadia’s name means hope—and she lives up to it. She
has the kind of hope that stares opposition boldly in the face. She wears it
with liveliness and playfulness, and at times with fierce determination. And she
dreams—wonderful little girl dreams.
Today
we played catch and soccer out in the grass behind our apartment—Noah and I in
proper attire, and Nadia in her princess dress. The princess played, too, but
would stop every so often to dance her ballerina dance and beg an audience.
Then she would tell me to dance as well.
What happens to the knight and the princess
when they’ve grown? The brokenness of
our world has a way of smothering the glow of life inside of us until it’s all
but lost. I remember being that girl in
twirling skirt, singing my made-up little girl songs. Dreaming big dreams. Then dreams were replaced with wounds and guilt, and
dreams gave way to resignation to what life is.
Because it’s not safe to dream.
Hoping leads to disappointment.
How can dreams survive when faced with the harsh reality
of a world that lies, cheats, violates, steals, and destroys? How does hope continue when faced with
rejection and disillusionment? When "anything is possible" is met with the unforgiving face of impossibility?
Maybe what life appears to be isn’t actually the truth.
We are more than conquerors through
Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:37)
In this world we will have
troubles, but Jesus says “But take heart! I have overcome this world.” (John 16:33)
God will
never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)
God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:7)
He works all things together for the good of
those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
We are joint heirs with Christ--sons and
daughters of the living God. (Romans 8:16-17)
The voices of this world drown out the Truth of God’s
Voice. In order to survive the onslaught
against our hearts and live the hope we are called to, we must cling to God’s
Truth above every other voice. It must
be our lifeline. We must constantly
weigh the messages from others and in our own minds against the Truth of God’s
word. What does God say about me?
I am still that little girl in twirling skirt, longing to
right the injustices of the world and see hope prevail. I long for Christ redemption to be complete
in this world. I still fight to dream,
to hope against all hope. And I am
deeply loved by a more-than-capable God.
Everything else is just details.
Last
night as we lay down to sleep we prayed and listened to God. Nadia, who often
says that God told her something about toys or school, said these words, “I’ll
keep your dreams…come true. I’ll keep you safe.” Yes, my dear Nadia, God does
hold our dreams in His hands, and you can trust Him to keep them and your heart
safe.
Our God is a dream keeper. He is the one that gives us dreams. He whispers them in our ear; plants the seed of hope in our heart. May we all dream as wildly and as
confidently as children, trusting in a God " who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did." (Romans 4:17)