When comfort smothers a dream …

As a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a detective.

I really, really wanted to be a detective. So much so, for a brief period I was pen pals with L. Patrick Gray, III who was the Acting Director of the FBI, and W. Mark Felt, the Associate Director who we have since learned was “Deep Throat,” the source for journalists Woodward and Bernstein who uncovered Watergate.

I never became a detective.

But over the years, I’ve dreamed of doing different things, and have been blessed with the chance to accomplish most of them.

Becoming a detective was a childhood fantasy. The other dreams I pursued were not. As I grew up, it was important to learn the difference between a God-given dream and a faux dream.

Some are faux dreamers.

They speak dramatically, even passionately,  of their intent to pursue this, or achieve that. Yet, there’s always a “but” …

When the kids get a little older …

When they save up enough money …

Things are just crazy at work right now, when the schedule calms down …

… all the while they live on, buying that bigger house, getting the new car, taking the fun vacations. Yet, the times never seem “right” to step out and achieve their dream.

The real “but” is, they know deep down inside, they will never be willing to pay the cost to make their dream a reality.

They’re faux dreamers.

After years of enthusiastic talk, even the faux dreamer begins to hope their friends don’t raise the subject of how things are coming along with their dream because even they have wearied of telling the tale. The life they live is just too comfortable to take the risks, do the hard work, and pay the costs of making their dreams come true.

They’ll just keep the fantasy, because they know they really could have done X, accomplished Y, or become Z if they had really wanted to.

They finally taught themselves one thing: they really didn’t want to.

Are you talking yourself out of pursuing your dream? Or are you willing to trust God to help you step out in faith to turn a God-given dream into reality?

Scotty