Myth-busting Advice for my Graduating Seniors–Myth 2: “Big Dreams are Big Enough”
In a few months, you’ll head to campus. You’ll make friends with people who dream big dreams. Maybe your roommate will be Broadway bound. Perhaps the girl sitting next to you in Organic Chemistry wants to cure cancer. Or your workout buddy plans on a PhD before heading to an Egyptian dig. All pretty cool dreams, big dreams. But not big enough.
In a few months, you’ll head to campus. You’ll make friends with people who dream big dreams. Maybe your roommate will be Broadway bound. Perhaps the girl sitting next to you in Organic Chemistry wants to cure cancer. Or your workout buddy plans on a PhD before heading to an Egyptian dig. All pretty cool dreams, big dreams. But not big enough.
Professors, family, even strangers will encourage these dreams. Speakers will come and motivate you to expand your horizons and your minds. Don’t just think management; think executive office. Don’t settle for just the U.S.; go global. Don’t envision a better mousetrap; make a revolutionary one. Good advice, but still not big enough.
See, it’s good to have dreams like these. But you–you who follow Christ, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, adopted by the infinite Father–don’t have to settle for Big Dreams. Those dreams are earth-bound and temporal. You possess eternal life, and have the privilege of serving the kingdom in everything you do. You get Humongous, Giant, Eternal-life dreams.
These dreams have significance that echoes in eternity, they’re the ones Heaven talks about. These are more than your dreams. They’re what God dreams for you (and since He’s the Omnipotent Sovereign of the universe, they’re not just pipe-dreams.)
Go out and find those Eternal-Life dreams, those ones God dreams for you. They may not impress your friends at school. They may confound your parents (who always thought you’d be a great lawyer). They may scare the wits out of you. But find them, follow them, achieve them anyway. Dive in to your future, and never, ever settle for measly Big Dreams.
Laura Singleton
Laura Singleton’s passion is the transformation that happens when women get access to God’s Word and God’s Word gets access to women. She was twenty-five when her life was turned upside down by an encounter with Jesus Christ. With an insatiable thirst for scripture and theology, she soon headed to Dallas Theological Seminary to learn more about Jesus, and left with a Th.M. with an emphasis in Media Arts. She, along with two friends from DTS, travel the nation filming the independent documentary Looking for God in America. She loves speaking and teaching and is the author of Insight for Living Ministry’s Meeting God in Familiar Places and hundreds of ads, which pay the bills. Her big strong hubby Paul is a former combat medic, which is handy since Laura’s almost died twice already. She loves photography, travel and her two pugs.
