One thing I love about the Degree Completion demographic in
the field of Higher Education is watching adult students take the next best
step leading them to achieving their dreams. While they usually hesitate with
questions in the interview process regarding their academic journey or their
heroes in life; they do not skip a beat when it comes to verbalizing their
dreams. They know their dreams; that’s why they’re here.
This past weekend in Palm Springs, in between gin &
tonics and nachos by the pool, a group of best friends sat around in the sun as
this topic rose to the surface. What are
your dreams? While I can go around and guess many of my friends’ desires
and hopes, there exist dreams stored up I never could’ve articulated. And if
there’s one thing that inspires me most – it’s listening to where one’s heart beats
to a longing God placed uniquely within their spirit, and how He designed them
to do something specific.
Listening to the imprint of God in others’ lives is what I
was created to do; and it’s my dream to do more of this in a setting that
allows for it someday. I hope to funnel my commitment to journey and
transformation into a book; I hope to build a home founded on a healthy
marriage so that our children would know us as a place of safety and forgiveness
and unconditional love because of Jesus; I hope to teach college students and
pour into their lives, and to pursue a Phd that speaks to my gifts and strengths.
I hope to make an impact on at least a few lives, because I know that it’s
through each person that change is brought to our world. I hope to create more memories
alongside my favorite people that lead to that feeling of nostalgia, propelling
even more adventures in the sunset and sunrise moments; in the roadtrips and
hikes and days spent flying kites in the sun. I hope to be a home of
hospitality, where others trod in and out to find refuge and rest and retreat;
where people are invited and heard and welcomed even if they’re a stranger. Maybe
someday I’ll be a wise old woman in our neighborhood alongside my wise old
husband (who will no doubt be either a mapmaker or tour guide in his
retirement), sipping tea and tending to the garden and reading at the local
library and making trips across the world to care for the unnoticed and unheard.
At the end of my life, I hope that it can be said that I loved my husband and
my family and my community the very best that I could – and that this love came
from God. These are the dreams I seek
and long after. These are the dreams that get my heart stirring and keep me up
at night. These are the dreams that unravel so many other dreams and lead me to
being present where I am. Because I know that today is not lived in a vacuum –
it adds up to tomorrow and the next day and ever so slowly becomes the forever.
These are the dreams that live at the surface of all I do – and I want to know
that I am moving towards these things as I am faithful to where God has me
right now.
