Remember the Disney song Jiminy Crickett sang in
Pinocchio, “When You Wish Upon a Star”? I remember a
boy in my fourth grade class singing it at the end of
a school program, and how enchanted I was to the
lyrics of the song, wanting really hard to believe
that whatever I wished for would come true. Well,
reality set in, and I grew up. But, I can’t help but
look up on a starry night, looking hopefully for a
star that stands out just for me, beckoning me to make
a wish, so it can be granted and make my wish come
true. The childlike spirit in me never gives up hope,
even though the adult in me reminds me the folly of my
heart will not come without hard work and dedication.
What do you dream about? Material things like a new
car, house or more money? Or maybe a chance at a
lucrative career or opportunity that has been just out
of reach? Do you even believe in your dreams, and can
you sort out dreams from illusions of grandiose ideas?
Or are your dreams limited to counting sheep?
Have you been disillusioned by your hopes and dreams,
whether through circumstances in your life beyond your
control, or maybe foolish choices? To you, life may
seem like a three-ring circus nightmare that you would
like to wake up from and smile, knowing it was just a
bad dream.
There’s a character in the Old Testament of the Bible
I can relate to regarding dreams. Joseph was a boy
with big dreams and grand ideas. The problem was his
other siblings didn’t like his dreams and his
childlike boasting of them, or the idea that their
father gave Joseph a special coat of many colors. To
them, he was a reminder of what they didn’t have and
the fact that life wasn’t what they had dreamed it
would be. So, they planned and schemed and decided to
teach their brother a lesson about life and give him a
wake-up call. They stripped him of his prized coat,
threw him in a ditch, sold him into slavery, then put
blood of an animal on his coat and convinced their
grief-stricken father that he was dead. Joseph’s life
from that point on was a true living nightmare that
even he thought at times he would never wake up from.
He had interpreted a dream for a royal subject, and
even enjoyed the good life temporarily, until the wife
of this loyal subject determined to ruin his happiness
through deceit and trickery. Sounds like an episode
of a night time soap opera drama! So, to jail he goes
for a crime he was innocent of. He could have lost
faith, and I’m sure he was discouraged, even after
helping others who promised to help him, and once
their dreams were realized they forgot about Joseph.
But, he continued on his journey until fate played a
hand. He never stopped believing that things might
possibly get better and kept his faith when things
remained bleak for much longer than he wanted them to.
And when he was older, and wiser, he chose to help
others reach their dreams, even those people who tried
long ago to squelch his.
As a child, I had dreams and hopes, and desires but
put them away in a little “treasure box” of memories
as I got older. Now that I have a child, I have hopes
and dreams for him, and want so much for him to
realize and live his dreams for the future. I’ve
started opening that little “treasure box” of memories
from time to time, dusting off each dream and
re-examining it to see which ones are worth keeping
and working on and which ones are ready to retire. In
this process, I have shared these with my son and
watched him establish his own ideas that he wants for
himself. I hope his dream of becoming a roller
coaster and theme park designer come true, but even if
it doesn’t, he will have plenty of other dreams that
will.
If life has you seeing mirages in a desert of
confusion, doubt and disappointment, maybe it is time
to set your sights higher, beyond counting sheep that
is, and focus on clearing away the cobwebs and clouds
of confusion, reach for a higher source beyond the
stars, and hold on to the hope and share that dream
with others around you who believe in your dreams and
want to see them come true, too.
Get out your “treasure chest” of dreams, and remember
how much fun it was to play with them and share them
with others. You just might inspire someone else who
needs their hope restored and their faith rekindled.
Go ahead, dream big! Just don’t sleepwalk through
life, especially with a colorful coat. You want to
live long enough to see your dreams come true!more.
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