When dreams die

“A vision without action is just a dream; an action without vision just passes time; a vision with an action changes the world.” - Nelson Mandela

I recently connected with 23 people. We are different ages and different walks of life, all united because we are dreamers. Some of us may even be visionaries. We were brought together and challenged to take our vision and put some action behind it. Change the world.

The visions vary in size. Some are personal, like loosing weight or getting in shape. Some are job focused, like being a better manager or finding that elusive job that will blossom into a career. Some sound crazy, like playing catch with the president or spending 24 hours in prayer.

Each dream is important, though. Each one is a living, breathing thing. They need to be nurtured and fed, especially when they are just learning to walk. As they get stronger, they gain momentum. The dreamer suddenly isn't stuck anymore. Instead of coaxing their dream along, they find themselves running to keep up. It's a beautiful thing.

Each of us have limited time that we can put into these efforts. It isn't like someone is paying us to do all the hustling that is required to turn vision into reality. For each of us, some level of sacrifice is required. For me, I've been getting up a couple of hours early every morning so I can write. I can't say it's been easy. The mornings aren't bad, but the nights are kind of tough. But it's been worth it. Feeding your dreams are always worth it.

I just sent in a two-week status update of our challenge. There were only nine project updates. Each of those nine had incredible updates, even the ones that said "not a lot of progress this week, but I'm hanging in there." Forward progress, no matter how small, is always beautiful. It's motivating and inspiring to watch. But I can't help but wonder about the other 14. What happened to their dreams this week?

See, I know that if you fail to feed your dreams, they tend to atrophy and die. God made each of us unique, and not everyone is a dreamer. Having witnessed the birth of such beautiful dreams, it is sad to think that so many died so young.

Did those dreams die?

One Failure

My challenge for today is to let go of one failure. I hate failure. I avoid it whenever possible.

The truth is, I have failed at many things. Large and small. I fail at things every day. My awareness of my own failures may be one of the reasons I'm so addicted to and appreciative of radical, outrageous grace. Which leads me to the failure that I need to let go of tonight.

Love. I fail so miserably at love. My relationship and experience with God has lead me to an understanding of unconditional love. It's the most life-changing, transformational, and powerful force in the universe. It's the ultimate answer to the old "WWJD" bracelets. Jesus would love. Unconditionally. No matter what.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. To be honest, though, I'd rather teach or write about unconditional love than actually get out there and do it. I choose "safe" over "all in" way too often. It's much cleaner to split hairs between what love really looks like, rationalizing our tendencies to stay detached from messy situations. Ultimately, I spend more time discussing love and justifying inaction than taking bold steps of unconditional love.

At some level, though, that's the point. I'm continually stumbling and falling down. The realization of my own failure in this doesn't make me feel pitiful or worthless. Instead, it drives me right back into the arms of Jesus. Like so many other people that have found themselves there, He picks me back up, demonstrating what unconditional love really looks like, and then encourages me to get back in the game.

Realizing that helps me to understand the potential depths of love a little more. I can live with that.

Lost shades

My shades and I in Gravatai, Brazil 2011

I lost my sunglasses yesterday. They were old. The lenses were scratched. Superglue held the rubber nose pieces in place. In just the last two weeks I had been thinking about getting a new pair. But that's not the point. I hate to lose things. Maybe I'd eccentric, maybe I'm mental. But I hate to lose things.

This past week was awesome. Jon Acuff's great (and top secret) "Start Experiment" kicked off Monday. I woke up at 5AM every day and wrote, wrote, wrote. Our small group of local STARTers (props to group #60) has inspired each other while kicking our own goals in the pants. But Saturday I lost my sunglasses.

Because of my eccentricities (or insanity), this awesome week almost became defined by my loss, not by my gains. One thousand incredible experiences, a renewed walk with God, a handful of new and incredible friends were almost overshadowed by shades. Almost.

Walking the street of Queluz

Today, my task is to make a quit list. Things I can quit today to free up more time, energy, or hope for my dream.

With Milton and Ricardo in Gravatai 2011

1. Stop letting temporary, trivial, or insignificant things overshadow the awesome, life-changing, or even ordinary things in life. Let. It. Go.
2. Quit the negative self-talk. My wife is my biggest fan, speaking words of encouragement into my life daily. She needs some support, so I think I'll help her out. My action step: find one promise of God in the Bible every morning and then keep it in my head all day.
3. Quit participating in gossip. Last week was so good that I became much more aware of the negative talk around me. I realized that I normally participate in it. Talking about others is an energy drain, unless we are bragging on them.

Yeah, I'm sentimental. Those glasses had been with me to Brazil. Twice. I wore them everywhere. I've walked miles and miles with them on my head or my face. The thing is, those glasses aren't the memory. Those shades weren't the experience. They were just a $10 pair of Walmart shade. Those experiences were awesome, the memories were awesome, walking with God was awesome. Those shades were just shades.

In an old cemetery in Queluz, 2012