Key Takeaway: Your dreams may be one way God – or your Higher Being – is speaking to you, and thus one way you can realize and live out your higher purpose or your Reason. Take time to look at them, and more importantly, follow them.
In what are probably two of the best Christian spiritual books ever – and two major guides for my life – Pastor Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and Father James J. Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, a point is made about us needing to look into our desires – the things we want. And I’m not talking just about material desires (which, by the way, are good, because God created the physical world for our – His creation’s – enjoyment, just as long as they do not become ends in themselves), but also deeper desires – such as having a loving family, a simple life, somebody to love, a beautiful country, and the like.
(Read more: Jio Victorino’s Bucket List and thoughts thereof)
It doesn’t take rocket science to show and to see that each of us have different desires. Some of us may dream simply about having kids and grandkids they could be proud of. Others may desire to lift out a certain sector or two out of marginalization. Yet others may choose to do something for sustainable development. And there are those who, like me (admittedly), dream of simply making an impact however we can.
God gave us different desires for a reason, and that reason translates to our higher purpose, our raison d’être for being created by him. We are to use our desires not to achieve our own interests, but to achieve something larger than us, larger than life, that includes others in it, and ultimately includes and is for God’s greater glory. And ultimately, our dreams are firmly rooted in it.
My mother always told me never to compare myself with others especially when I’d be feeling jealous of or inferior to them. Compared to peers around me, I am a real late bloomer – discovering my desires, my skills (or lack thereof), and what I stand for quite late in life – towards the end of my university years. I didn’t even have much independence privileges while in university, unlike very close friends who I couldn’t help but feel jealous of because of how empowered they were. But for my mother, there’s no point in doing so because no two people are the same.
Well, we can’t be the same as others all the time; she got this fundamental spiritual truth very rightly. We have our own paths and dreams. Sometimes we really do bloom a little late than others.
But perhaps there is no such thing as late, only the “right time”. The right time according to God’s will.
So for this weekend’s food for thought, it is certainly worth sitting back and listening to your heart, to listen to and tap into your deepest desires, your dreams. Pray over them, reflect on them, and then follow them. You will be one step closer to realizing your true higher purpose.
Have a blessed and purposeful weekend!
Aloy Chua 