What Size Is Your Dream?

“Will that be … small, regular, or super-sized?”

If you have ever ordered French Fries at a fast-food counter, you recognize the mantra.

An image popped into my mind. I Imagined a great drive-thru with God at the window asking “Will that be a small, regular, or…  my special God-sized dream?”

It made me ask what size is my life dream and how will it become real.

God’s “supersized dream”

Think about it! … Isn’t God’s dream another name for God’s plan for us and all creation?

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ”Jeremiah 29:11“

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9

Imagine… a dream of creation literally much much older and bigger than we imagined even just a few years ago. before our space telescopes.

We actually have a record of God’s dream. We find it in scripture.

God shared the dream with Adam and Eve. It is a dream rooted in love shared. God, who is love, shared, created our human family, provided our common home and “saw that everything created was good.” 

God dreamed that we will wake up and grow into loving everyone and everything as God loves us.

The Old Testament is the history our how our ancestors thought they understood but so often didn’t really live the dream. They continually lost sight of God’s dream.

In the New Testament God revives and clarifies the dream “that all may be one” in Christ Jesus. (John 17:21)

Unpacking God’s Dream

Pope Francis’ three major writings… and actions… all spelled out for us God’s dream that we increasingly become aware of God’s love for us.

In Evanglium Gaudium he highlights the joy and excitement of waking up to truly “Good news”! We are God’s beloved children called to love our God and our neighbor as ourselves.

 Then “Laudato Si’’’ taught us that everything is connected. “Fratelli Tutti” teaches us that everyone is connected.

Pope Francis presents a world where we move beyond the original fault of self-centeredness to recognizing the worth of every human person.

He challenges us…

Let us not settle only for what is necessary. The Lord does not want us to narrow our horizons or to remain parked on the roadside of life. He wants us to race boldly and joyfully towards lofty goals. We were not created to dream about vacations or the weekend, but to make God’s dreams come true in this world. God made us capable of dreaming, so that we could embrace the beauty of life.

Judged by our dreams… and our choices

He continues…

Yet how do we begin to make great dreams come true? With great choices!  

At the last judgment, the Lord will judge us on the choices we have made… drawing out the consequences of our choices, brings them to light, and respects them.

 Jesus knows that if we are self-absorbed and indifferent, we remain paralyzed, but if we give ourselves to others, we become free.

Feverish consumerism can overwhelm our hearts with superfluous things. An obsession with pleasure may seem the only way to escape problems, yet it simply postpones them. A fixation with our rights can lead us to neglect our responsibilities to others. Then, there is the great misunderstanding about love, which is more than powerful emotions, but primarily a gift, a choice and a sacrifice.

Great Choices for Great Dreams

• What size is your dream? Human… or God-sized?
• How do I live my choice of God’s dream?

Click below for an early audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk