What would be your dream vacation? (Week 10)

December 18, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: 50 fridays, Marriage

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

What would be your dream vacation? (Don’t worry about the cost or any logistics … remember, it’s a dream vacation!)

One of my children, Jacob, recently had a school project that required planning a vacation out of the country and he chose Madrid, Spain as his destination. For the project, he had to create a PowerPoint presentation that included how he would get there, where he would stay, the restaurants he would eat in, and the attractions that he would visit. As I was watching him practice his presentation on the night before he turned it in, I found myself wanting to go to Spain! Later that night I started looking at other places on the web that I would like to visit. With the help of Google Earth I visited the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and the Opera House in Sydney, Australia. I had a blast.

The reality is that most of the time I’m pretty practical about where I’d like to go or what I’d like to do. I rarely take the time to dream big. Not just about vacation locations, but about a lot of things in life. It’s easy to become very practical and responsible. But there’s a place for dreaming, especially in our marriages. Sometimes the dreaming can be just for fun (like today’s question). Sometimes the dreaming can help us prepare for the future (financial savings, house changes, serving opportunities, etc.). Sometimes the dreaming allows us to envision what our marriages can become and where we can grow together.

As we dream, we arouse hope. When hope is awakened, it provides the opportunity for us to trust, not merely in our dreams, but to trust that God’s plan for our lives and marriage is better than anything that we can ask, think or even dream. In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible, he writes: “God can do anything you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (Ephesians 3:21, The Message).

So as you dream together this week, be reminded that God is at work to see His good purposes accomplished. Dream and allow hope to rise. As that happens, watch as God accomplishes His good and perfect plan in your life.

Jeff Helton
Marriage and Family Pastor
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