God’s Dreams

God’s dreams for us are big.

He is infinitely creative, and endlessly powerful.  It is the essence of his very nature.  Before time, scripture tells us the Spirit of God moved upon the surface of the deep (Gen. 1:1) and there in the void and utter darkness, He spoke words of brillant power- “let there be light.”  With one utterance, life began.

That was so long ago, yet each and every day he repeats the miracle on the most intimate of venues.  Deep in the darkness and silence, in the secret place of a mother’s womb, the spirit of the Creator speaks.  With the smallest whisper, he joins egg and sperm and says, “let there be life.”

And in that moment, He dreams big.

He speaks again and the fertilized egg divides for the first time but not the last.  It will mulitply and divide again and again as God weaves together new life according to a plan and for a purpose.

He weaves the life there in the darkness with His dreams in mind.  He never wonders what the child’s destiny will be.  He knows.  He forms the small one, shaping and molding with the end in mind so that when at last his work is finished and the labor pains of the mother begin, the child is perfectly equipped for all the good works God has prepared in advance for him to do.

He comes forth into the bright, cold world, draws his first breath and….cries.  He is concerned only for the comfort of his mother’s breast but his destiny awaits him and only he is able to fulfill it because when God was forming him, the Almighty was dreaming big.

We however, have such narrow parameters of what is “good” and “perfect”.  Before the child is even a few moments old, he is given a score on the scale of 1 – 10.  The Apgar test, they call it.  I understand it is for the assesment of the child’s health.  I am not negating its usefulness to that end.  I just find it sad how quickly the world begans to rate usefulness, beauty and…goodness in God’s creation.  The comparisons mount before the child is even out of the hospital.  People stare at the babies all lined up in a row and ooh, and ahh over the beautiful but what about those who don’t fit the other humans’ standard of perfection?  What about the baby born with one arm shorter, or Down’s Syndrome?  What about the child who doesn’t fit society’s definition of beautiful?

How do we know what God has planned for that child?  Who are we to say what tool is useable in the Creator’s hand?

What if we quit placing limits?  What if we just trusted that God has a plan and embraced the way he formed us? 

I have been thinking about this a lot and I believe that if we are able to simply be at peace with the person God made us to be, we will automatically fulfill the God glorifying destiny he dreamt for us.  The problem is that Satan works very hard to thwart us in this and as a result, many of us reach adulthood with no idea who we are, how we are gifted, or why we are here.

By the time I entered my 20’s Satan’s rampage through my life to this end was complete.  Now, years later I find that sweet relationship with Him has restored me.  It is a continuing work of course, but I am quite at peace to be myself eventhough I am very aware I do not fit the mold.  That is all good and well for me.  I am 38 years old.

What makes me crazy is watching my children struggle as Satan does his very best to convince them that something is wrong with God’s formation of them when they “don’t fit”.

So, I want to listen to the Creator when He speaks to me about my kids.  I want to take my hands off and say, “My God, let your will be done.”  I want to embrace those aspects of their personalities and even their weaknesses as part of who He created them to be.  I want to speak life into them.  Pray God’s protection over His dream for them.  I want to love them with abandon…just as they are.

Of course, I could attempt to force them into a mold but what if I broke them in the process? 

What a waste that would be.