There we were, our own group of 10 or so people, among scores of others there for the same purpose. Having fun. It turned out that an extension of our group managed to make it that night as well, so there were many people that knew one other if only vaguely, but all were happily introduced. After the brief refresher course was given, we all got down to it. The gentlemen wasted no time in swinging with their gals and those of us who were there without designated partners (like me) didn't have to wait long before people switched partners. That is one great thing about swing dance. It is an unspoken rule that you dance with several different people. Not that you haaaave to if you and your partner don't want to, but everyone typically takes advantage of learning from other people's moves or styles. It's great.
So we're all dancing the night away, right? Yup. Then I was asked to dance by a friend of one of my group members. Another thing you should know if you are new to swing dance is that it is a social dance. Which, yes, that means you can do it with loads of other people, but it also means that you talk and dance at the same time. Again, not a rule, but it is typical to carry on a conversation as you swing around to the upbeat music. After we'd introduced ourselves, we skipped out to an open space and started talking and dancing. After a little while once we'd gotten past where we went to school, what year we were in school, majors, and all that normal stuff, he asked me a question that surprised me. "So what is your dream?"
[insert dramatic pause as I mentally scrambled around for some coherent answer.] I can't say that I often get asked that question, so for one, I was surprised. But for two, whenever I do get asked that question, I always feel lame as I say "I don't know," or "Wish I knew." In fact, even when I did have something that I dreamed of doing, I was strongly encouraged by leaders to "dream bigger" and I can't tell you how many times when someone has prophesied over me their words from God have been "don't be limited, dream dream dream, it's okay because God's imagination is bigger." For some reason, dreaming a night in my sleep is not rare and certainly no difficulty, but releasing myself to imagine what I amazing things I want to do with the time that I have here on earth...erg. I smack into the brick wall of my own disbelief in what God can do in me.
So ya know what I said? I said, "I'd like to write a couple books and be a mom someday." Both perfectly good and honorable things to do in one's life, but as the words came out my mouth my mind rushed back to all the times I'd been encouraged to really dream about what I wanted to do, and that as great as those things were, my answer didn't show much proof of careful thought or creativity. Not only that, but when I asked him the same question, his answer put mine to shame. He said, "I want to show the hand of God through the arts." Simple, great, and so much more descriptive of the dream of a God-honoring individual than my answer. I have to laugh at myself because this guy showed me up in a really good way. He showed me up in the sense that he had no idea I am a Christian as well, but was willing to just throw out there what he wants to do with his life. He didn't know that the time we spent dancing to a song would turn into a brief but encouraging discussion about our similar views on God (just like I didn't know either), but he was willing to toss out his question and springboard the conversation towards God.
I was impressed and encouraged by his example. Not only that, but I realized something about myself. If I want to glorify God and make him known to others throughout my lifetime, I need to be able to express vision for my life beyond the desire to getting published and chase kids around. I need to have a ready answer. What is my dream? What do I want to be remembered for? How do I want to show God to the world? What wild things could my imagination come up with, that God doesn't either have something better in mind, or that He couldn't make happen?
I'm still thinking on this. I'm taking my time to come up with an answer that more fully expresses who I am and what I am working towards. Since my life revolves around and is (I hope) more increasingly more in love with Jesus, His name should be mentioned in my statement of purpose. At the very least, my answer should be, "I want to glorify God through writing books and being a mother," but I have a feeling that if I seriously take the words of my leaders to dream bigger into consideration, my answer will evolve into something different.
Like I said, I'm still thinking on it, but I wanted to share my little story and encourage you to not only dream bigger for yourself, but to have an answer for any stranger who might happen to ask what your life is about. I hope you do what I failed to do, which is to name the Maker of your life in the desired purpose of your life.
