The LORD God wants us to live. And His desire and declaration spoken over us is to encompass body and soul and spirit. “Live!”

But how are we to live? The culture around us speaks like this: “Live your dream!” This motto, “Live your dream!” has something to do with living authentically and genuinely with regards to one’s own inborn capabilities; it has something to do with great ideas and aspirations that capture a person’s wonderment and pursuit; but it doesn’t go far enough. While “Live your dream!” recognizes the unique individuality of every person with their own mix of skills, talents, leanings and interests, the statement, as it stands, does not point a person to his true north.

Dreams may include things that uniquely rivet one’s interest and attention, but the pursuit of “the dream” may also leave a person underdeveloped as a whole entity and personality; it may leave one’s closest society of family, and even one’s larger society of community and locality, poorer and weaker and unenriched.

Perhaps a better slogan and wiser counsel than “Live your dream” would be “Live your purpose”. To “Live your purpose” is something bigger than your dream. Your dream may include your interests and talents,  but may also veer off into unattainable fancies and unprofitable spinnings and futile expenditures of energies.

To have a purpose is something different than to have a dream. Dreams can be ethereal; a purpose is tangible, solid and anchoring. Purpose supposes thoughtful creation: personal, thoughtful creation. We can reflect on this and conclude, “I was created with a purpose in mind.”

So my inquiry can pivot from “what is my dream?” to “what is my purpose?” Let that thought expand: Do I have a purpose? Does mankind, as a whole, have a purpose? Do I, as an individual, have a purpose? What is my unique purpose that has accompanied my unique creation?

Do personal dreams and unique individual purpose intersect? Yes! Dreams can be pursued, discarded or amended as one travels along the path of one’s purpose. Dreams can push a person forward along the path of purpose. But let purpose be preeminent: purpose has rails; dreams drift.

In the path of purpose, dream big. Yet beware: dreaming, unchained to purpose and reason, can be delusional and dangerous. Dreams, aspirations – these are gifts of God. Purpose – this is also a gift of God. Therefore, dreams and purpose must “hold hands” as they go forward; they must not oppose one another.

Seek God for your purpose; it brings stability, direction and boundaries.
Thank God for your dreams: the risings, the desires and the possibilities that have the power to propel you forward along your path of purpose.