Hopes and Dreams
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES and dreams for the New Year? Perhaps you are longing for a
promotion or an entirely new job? Or how about a new home or a planned
extension to the one you already have? Or are your hopes pinned on winning the
lottery this year? Or do all of these personal hopes get drowned out by fear
and anxiety - about terrorism, about climate change, about injustice and
oppression around the world?
I used to be a primary school teacher and one thing that really struck me was the strong sense of hope within children - in the eyes of a child anything is possible! They also seem to have a built-in understanding of right and wrong - they know we should take care of the planet and when they are told about the way two-thirds of the world's population live in poverty they dream of making the world a better place.
So what happens? I believe as most of us lose hope because we grow up surrounded by people who have given up on ever achieving their own big dreams. We are surrounded by people who think they can't make a difference to the world, people who have settled for smaller and often more self-centred dreams like earning lots of money and buying lots of things.
Sometimes our lives can seem so insignificant. We start swimming in the right direction but the tide seems to be going out and the currents seem to be so strong. Sometimes it seems easier just to go with the flow.
One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish, and one by one tossing them back into the ocean. He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.
The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead." The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"
The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a lot of difference to this one!"
Why not make 2007 a year to rekindle your own childhood dreams of making a positive contribution to the world around you? And why not make a start by encouraging the children and young people you know to keep their hopes and dreams alive?
"Everything is possible for him who believes" said Jesus. "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!" came the reply.
Mark 9v23-24