Follow Your Dreams

“You cannot live without dreams. Dreams foster hope, and hope is one of the forces by which men and women live.” Matthew Kelly

I have always been a dreamer. Not only do I dream the weirdest things while I sleep, but I also love to daydream. When I was little, Madre Josefa, the nun that was my second grade teacher, used to tell my mom that I spent more time in “la Luna de Valencia” (Valencia’s moon) than in the classroom. I always wondered why Valencia’s moon was different than Madrid’s moon. Now I know that Valencia’s moon is known in the USA as “La La Land.” And yes, I still spend a lot of time in La La Land.

When I close my eyes, I can dream that I live in a world where there is no pain or suffering. Matthew Kelly explains it best: “To dream is the easiest thing in the world. There are no limitations to dreaming.” I can dream that I’m in Spain walking down “La Gran Via” or that I’m in Paris watching the Eiffel Tower or in the Amalfi Coast enjoying its magnificent views. When I dream, I can transport myself to any place in the world. Dreams helps me to hope that one day things will return to normal and I’ll be able to visit those places for real.

Unfortunately, many people think that dreaming is only for children. As we get older, and the reality of life catches up with us, we stop dreaming. And we don’t realize that we cannot live without dreams. If we are faced with a physical illness, and this causes us to stop dreaming, we will also lose hope that we can be cured. If we dream of achieving a goal, and we lose hope at the first sign of failure, we will never reach the goal. If we receive a disappointing news, and we fall into despair, we should not push aside our dreams because this will only push us further into a state of hopelessness. It’s good to allow the inner child in all of us to dream. 

Every great discovery started out as a dream. In fact, the greatest thinkers, scientists, artists, visionaries, and leaders throughout history were ordinary people like you and me, who happened to be dreamers. Walt Disney had a dream to build a theme park. In 1955 he fulfilled his dream with these words: “Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts which have created America … with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” Today there are twelve Disney theme parks worldwide. Thomas Edison credited his discovery of electricity to his dreams. Our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, attributed the writing of the Declaration of Independence to their dreams. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity began as a dream. The Twilight series was dreamed by stay-at-home-mom, Stephenie Meyer. Who knows, maybe while in La La Land I’ll dream of the next bestseller. 

The Bible is also full of dreamers. Joseph is the most famous. His brothers didn’t appreciate his dreams because he would see them bowing down to him in his dreams so they sold him into slavery. But eventually, his dreams became a reality when he became the governor of all of Egypt. Daniel also had many dreams and visions, mostly related to future kingdoms of the world and the nation of Israel. God spoke to many Bible characters through dreams: Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, Solomon, Zacharias (the father of John the Baptist), Joseph (Jesus’ earthly father), Peter, Paul and John. This teaches us how important is to dream and that we should never make fun of other people’s dreams, no matter how absurd they may seem. 

I hope that as you read this, you can close your eyes and spend five minutes daydreaming. Imagine yourself in your favorite place. Let hope be your guide as you travel through La La Land. Follow your dreams, and let them carry you wherever they wish. And who knows, you may hear God’s voice speak to you through your dreams. 

Copyright © 2022 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.