Dreams Realized; Dreams Deferred by Sharon Espeseth

What happens when dreams are realized early?


Did you watch Penny Oleksiak's final strokes as she won silver in the 100m Women's Butterfly race? This talented 16-year-old from Toronto says she had come to the 2016 Olympics with modest goals, but she didn't just show up and observe.

Penny became a winner for Canada. Her silver was the second medal clanking around her neck as a journalist interviewed her shortly after her butterfly swim. Young Penny admitted she had tried not to set her hopes too high. Former Olympian swimmers understand how big a win this is for Oleksiak.

While some may wonder how this youthful stardom will affect Penny, Marianne Limpert, a former Olympian silver-medal swimmer, advises, "It's great to win a medal and it's a huge honour. But it doesn't really change anything. . . .  Just keep everything grounded. . . . And just stay who you are."

Another rising star

David of Old Testament times also comes to mind as a young, ruddy-complexioned youth with an olympian spirit. If there had been a slingshot category, he would definitely have won. Instead David, Jesse's eighth and youngest son was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be the next King of Israel.

In spite of his love for God, David had his indiscretions. He did, however, go to God for forgiveness and guidance, when he had sinned. David has given us most of the Psalms--beautiful verses that speak to our hearts and teach us how to talk to God.

A Raisin in the Sun

What happens when dreams are deferred?

The opening lines of a poem by Langston Hughes ask,

"What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?"



To read the rest of the poem, see

https://readalittlepoetry.wordpress.com/2011/.../a-dream-deferred-by-langston-hughes...

From this poem, Lorraine Hansberry borrowed A Raisin in the Sun as title for her play about a

struggling black family. With success beyond her dreams Hansberry's play had over 500 performances on Broadway. She became the first black playwright and the youngest person to win a New York Critics' Circle Award. Before her death in 1965 at the age of 34, Lorraine had worked for the betterment and acceptance of blacks in America.

In real life, Lorraine's father could afford to provide for his middle class family. When Lorraine was eight years old, the family moved to a cleaner, brighter, white neighbourhood. Carl Hansberry needed the help of white business colleagues to make the purchase. In the fifties and sixties, residents of a neighbourhood would sign covenants not to sell their homes to blacks. Still the Hansberry's faced court challenges, threats by white mobs, and a brick through their window.

"Mama" in the play wanted to better her family by moving into a white neighbourhood. One critic had written about "a happy ending" to the play, which amused Hansberry, who knew the story ended on an uncertain, unpromising note. The play was, after all, about dreams deferred.

To view the movie, see https://youtu.be/7dBIJqvAjTM

I think of Abraham and Sarah as the ultimate example of dreams deferred. Their dreams and God's promise had definitely been delayed. Sarah bore a child in her old age and Abraham did become the father of the Hebrew people as God had promised. Can you imagine their surprise? Joy? Praise?

What about writing dreams deferred?

Sometimes my writing dreams seem to be deferred. I take responsibility for that, but there often have been reasons. I've found out the hard way that I can't physically or mentally handle everything that lands on my platter. I need to choose more carefully and prayerfully about the choices I take from the banquet of life.

Sometimes it's the words that count and not the word count.

In 2nd Corinthians 12:7-12, Paul talks about his "thorn in the flesh." He had pleaded three times for the Lord to take this thorn, or weakness, away. God answered, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul decided to be boastful about his weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on him.

Dare I, like Paul, boast about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me? Being prone to depression when I overdo things doesn't sound like an olympian spirit, but perhaps it is. "For when I am weak, then I am strong," Paul says. Learning to live by faith and to stay close to God is what makes me stronger. My productivity in writing may rise and fall, but I will persevere. My dreams may be deferred, but not denied. I am not a raisin in the sun.

David's Final Blog Posting - Sulo Moorthy

These days, as I lay on my bed under a mound of blankets, frail and old, awaiting  my end to come, I love to look back on my bygone years and revel on the goodness of God. It's beyond anyone's imagination, how, I,  who grew up in an unknown town like Bethlehem and spent most of my boyhood  watching over my father's sheep, became a king to rule over the entire nation of Israel.

In fact, I wasn't even considered as a tag-along by my father or brothers when they went to the sacrifice given by Samuel. Until Samuel asked them to send for me, they hadn't even noticed my absence.

Probably, in their eyes, I was just a kid, a dreamer, who's good at only watching sheep and playing the harp. Unlike my handsome looking, muscled bodied brothers, who were sent to the battle front to fight with the Philistines, I was sent there only to deliver bread and cheese to my brothers and to bring back news about them to my father.

Like any youngster, I hated to be left alone in the fields faraway from my family and friends. Now, looking back, I find those days to be the best times of my whole life. Being alone and away from people, I had ample time to talk to God, to notice His fingerprints on things around, and even hear Him in the quietness of the dawning hours.

For any onlooker, I might have seemed wasting my time doing anything interesting. But I must say, watching my sheep in the fields, gazing the stars at  the night, and  spearing bears behind the bushes taught me much more valuable lessons than what I had learned being on the throne.

Wow! To be named as the Man after God's own heart by God Himself is the highest honor anyone could wish for, and I was so blessed to receive it.   In comparison, the bejewelled crown placed on my head, the wealth acquired as a king, or the fame of conquering many cities weigh far less value to me.

I'm not trying to paint a perfect picture of me to gain admiration here.  Neither do I deny the horrendous deeds I did to stain my life.  But, as far as my devotion towards my God is concerned,I wouldn't even question it for a second. I must say, I sought the LORD with the eyes of my heart that I saw Him everywhere and in everything. That's what made me to blurt out in songs and dance around joyfully whether I was leading my sheep in the fields or returning to my city  in a victory parade.

My deepest regret, which I weep over even to this day is how I grieved the LORD, by my foolish acts. Even though I had the assurance of His forgiveness, I cannot still forgive myself for what I did. .

I presume, power and prosperity must have boosted my ego to block God from my view for a while. And how quickly a mere look at another man's wife over the balcony led me to commit the horrible sins I had never imagined myself doing. Me...an adulterer and a murderer? But, I did become one, and didn't even feel guilty about it till Nathan pointed his finger at me. That was the worse part.

I do not know how many days more I'm going to live. I had chosen Solomon over Adonijah to be the king after me, because he's much wiser, and fears God as I do. However, I warned him about the trap of temptations and told him if he ever backslides in his commitment to God, His  favor would surely depart from him as it did with king Saul.

If you ask me what advice I want to give to the future generation before I go,  I'd say the following:

"Seek the Lord with full adoration. Love Him for who He is  and not for what you can get out of His hands.

Let your love be genuine towards Him and towards others. Trust Him at all times, even when He seems too faraway to heed to your cries.

Temptation can come in any form. Never say, you wouldn't fall for it. I too overestimated myself like that at one time. See what happened. So,watch out your steps !"

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord - David (Psalm 150:6)

 

A January View - Pamely Mytroen

The beginning of a new year is like standing on the top of a hill. We can look back at where we’ve come from and look ahead to a new road. If we look back, what do we see?

Do we see trails that we started but never finished? Do we see broken down fences that we never repaired? Do we see a blight on the pasture land that we caused by neglect?

What does God see when he looks back on our past year? There is one thing he’s looking for. He is not looking for a paved path, a healthy growing pasture land, or plump livestock. He is looking for an attitude of the heart. When God looked back at King David’s life, he did not remember his adultery, his murderous actions, or his lies. He remembered his broken heart and his repentant spirit when Nathan the prophet confronted him.

God valued the sorrow of David’s heart more than anything else he accomplished during his 40 year reign. He did not remember his sins nor his great feats of kinghood. He remembered his tears.

Every king that ruled after David was compared to David. King Solomon, though the most wealthy and wise man of all history, had his kingdom torn away from his hands because he did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done. How had his father David followed the Lord completely? By repenting.

God brought disaster on the house of Jeroboam because he did not follow God with all his heart like his servant David had done.

“You have not been like my servant David who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.” God spoke this to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 14:8

"His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.” God said this of Ahijah King of Judah in 1 Kings 15:3.

It seems that as God reviews our life, he will not look at our lists of accomplishments and our good deeds. He will not check off our goals that we accomplished or the New Years resolutions that we maintained. Nor will he point a shaking finger at our lies, our gossip, our fears. He will search out an attitude of repentance. He will close his eyes and breathe in, and hope to fill his senses with an aroma of brokeness and humility.

When God looks back on New Years Day, he only looks as far as Christmas Day. He’s looking for a heart of humility like the one found in the stable. When he looks ahead, he only sees as far as Easter. He listens for the sharp retort of nails being pounded into our sin. He aches for us in the cry of release as we surrender our lives to the cross, and He longs to sing with us on resurrection Sunday.

God’s view is complete. He can recall every word we’ve spoken, and review every action our hands have done. But he chooses to see only one thing – Jesus and his humility; Jesus and his obedience, and his perfect offering on the cross. He lays aside his gavel and smiles when he sees our submission to His Son, just like he viewed David with eyes of mercy.

January affords a backward and forward view. Let's remember to see our lives through God's eyes.

Pam Mytroen