We all have dreams. A number we have achieved. Some may seem to be far away. As long as we are alive, God will make them come true if we just believe in ourselves and His great provision. In Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
There’s a famous biblical account about dreams found in the Book of Genesis, chapters 37-50. It is about Joseph, The Dreamer. From https://biblehub.com/: “Joseph’s account, and his role as The Dreamer, highlight themes of divine providence, forgiveness, and redemption. His dreams and their fulfillment demonstrate God’s sovereign plan and the way He uses individuals to accomplish His purposes. Joseph’s ability to forgive his brothers and recognize God’s hand in his life’s events is encapsulated in Genesis 50:20: ‘As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’”
Here are three individuals whose commentaries can guide us in realizing our own small and big dreams.
Steve Jobs famously said at the 2005 Commencement Exercise at Stanford University: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Bronnie Ware, an Australian author who once worked as a Palliative Carer wrote a book about ‘The Top Five Regrets of the Dying’. She said that the number one regret of her patients was not having the courage to live a life true for themselves not the life others expected of them.
She wrote: “This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made or not made.”
In her website column – https://www.bethspatterson.com/ – in 2014, Beth Patterson, an American licensed psychotherapist and grief counselor, shared some tips for embracing aging and letting go of grieving the loss of youth:
Accept your limitations. What if you can no longer run a four- minute mile?
Share your gifts and experience with others and teach them what you have learned through life’s trials and triumphs.
Create a list of things you’d like to accomplish and set about doing them. It’s not too late.
Have a sense of honest humility about the things you’d like to accomplish but know that you may not be able to. It’s OK.
This is a very short opinion dear readers. I just want to encourage you that it is never too late to follow your dream/s.
Note: The columnist is a 24-year resident of Dubai and is currently working as Head of Corporate Communications of a global energy logistics company. He used to be a former Filipino Community Leader as chairman of the Philippine Independence Day Execom in 2008 and as one of the founding officers of the Filipino Social Club in 2019. He can be reached at: artlosbanos@gmail.com
