This past weekend I went to see the movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." It's a movie based on an old short story by James Thurber - updated, of course, and not very recognizable from the original except in concept. The idea is about a man with a nondescript life but active imagination, dreaming of doing more exciting things with his life, until one day he throws caution into the wind and instead of dreaming about the extraordinary, he acts on his impulse and one wild act follows another until he becomes the person he has long dreamed of.
I think there is a Walter Mitty inside each of us to some extent: part of us that knows instinctively that there is "something more" to who we were intended to be, even if we can't quite say why. Some of us, like the Walter Mittys of our world, are active dreamers but rarely act on them for a variety of reasons; others still are too busy with daily responsibilities, or too afraid of stepping "out of the box." I'm not judging here, just pointing out some of the reasons that keep us from venturing out into the realm of the "not yet but possible."
In a song on their most recent cd, the group Casting Crowns has a song called "Dream for You," in which God is talking to David and Mary of the Bible, as if some years prior to David becoming King and Mary becoming the mother of Jesus. In the song, God is speaking to them about 1) how they see their dreams for their respective futures and 2) God's dream for each of them. He doesn't put their dream down, and acknowledges the parts of them that were accurate, but doesn't leave them there. After starting with their current dreams, He takes each one individually and tells them about the dream that HE has for them, going FAR BEYOND their simple and "practical" (if you will) dreams to the ones based on who HE is and what He is capable of making happen if they will let HIM dream for them! It's an OUTSTANDING song - of hope and encouragement - of what God CAN DO with us, and the desires and dreams and ABILITY to make them happen in our lives if we trust and hold on to Him, of whom the apostle Paul describes as "able to do IMMEASURABLY more than ALL we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." (Eph. 3:20)
I know that listening to this song (repeatedly, as I have done, being captivated by the message), along with watching the Walter Mitty film, has lit a fire under MY imagination. We can go far by taking a deep breath and stepping out by using our talents in a way we may never have before, or risking in some other part of our life, and that would be a great first step! But I want to encourage all of us, particularly those out there who know and walk in a personal relationship with the Creator of all that is and, as Paul again describes Him in the book of Romans (4:17), "The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" : take that extra step - today - and ask Him what HIS dream is for you. If Jesus has dreamed it, and we take His hand in partnership, buckle up - we might be in for a wild and exciting ride, far beyond any daydreams of Walter Mitty!
