“Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up, and growing] unless it dies first.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:36 AMP
Sometimes we have to be willing to let the dream die. The hope, the expectation.
The long-cherished, carefully thought out, best laid, much prayed-over plan.
We have to surrender it.
Let it go.
Not cast it aside. Not throw it away. Not stomp it into the ground. Not pretend we never wanted it in the first place, and don’t care what happens to it now.
None of those things.
Release it into the hands of our Loving Savior, saying, “Yes, You can have it. This, too. I don’t want to hold anything back from You. I trust You. I know You will take care of it. And in Your love for me, You will withhold no good thing from me.”
Understanding that sometimes He will give it back to us… at just the right time, in the right place, in the right way.
And when He resurrects it, it will be better than we ever imagined. Sometimes really different, but better. Richer, deeper, more meaningful, more significant. More alive than ever before. We will be speechless, with awe and wonder.
Understanding that sometimes He won’t.
Sometimes He will tell us that it was good that it was in our heart to do it… but that dream we caught a glimpse of, that vision we grabbed hold of wasn’t for us.
Maybe it was for our children or our children’s children, as David’s dearest dream of building the Temple was the task God intended for his son Solomon.
Maybe it was to teach us something or help us accomplish something far more important from God’s point of view, and the dream was just the inspiration or the motivation we needed.
Or maybe the dream was given to us so that we could have something to surrender to Him, out of love for Him. Something costly that we could to give Him.
As David said, “I will not offer anything that costs me nothing…” Or “I’m not going to offer God… sacrifices that are no sacrifice.” ~ 2 Samuel 24:24 MSG
Yes, maybe the dream was meant to be something precious that we could have the honor and privilege of laying at His feet. Even through our tears, even in our suffering.
“For my determined purpose is that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death…” ~ Philippians 3:10 AMP
A way that we could bring God glory before our watching family and friends and the world around us, and that great cloud of witnesses, and all Heaven and Earth — as we willingly submit ourselves to our Heavenly Father and say as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Not my will, but Thine be done.”
The only way we’ll ever find out is if we open our hands and offer it up to Him.
If you have a few minutes, here are two songs that are on my heart today… thought they might encourage you, too.
Anything That Costs Me Nothing by Bobby Michaels
I Will Stand by Twila Paris
