Dream Keeper

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. ~Langston Hughes

A gift of dreams

It was a birthday gift, The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes–my first book of poems. Along with it, a black leather-bound volume of unspoiled pages, inscribed with these words, “The pages of this little book are filled with unwritten poems–your poems. May each be a true expression of what is in your soul.”

I thrilled to imagine myself as a poet, and spent long hours with paper and pencil stub in hand. But the book is not full, the last poem dated October, 1976. I’m not good at holding fast to dreams. I set them loose at the first sign of resistance.

Joseph, the dreamer

This summer I am writing a Bible study about Joseph, the one with a coat-of-many-colors. Joseph’s is a story shaped by dreams. Some are unspoken, like his brothers’ jealous longings, his father’s foolish hopes. But others are more literal–his vision of sheaves and stars and dominion, the Pharaoh’s troubled nightmares of cattle and corn.

And then there are God’s dreams. Joseph’s dreams almost kill him, the Pharaoh’s dreams lead to fortunes upended. But it is God’s dreams that steal the show. The nail-biter end of the story surprises me every time–in the fulfillment of God’s big plan, all lesser dreams come true as well.

I invite you to take a moment, away from demands; set aside the urgent and

Ask yourself :

• What are God’s dreams for his world?
• What dreams does he dream with you in mind?
• What dreams do you hold close to your heart?
• What dreams have you let go of before their time?
• Have you let God be the Dream Keeper for you?