It is 2019 and this is my new year’s wish for you: that you dream. Dream boldly. Dream audaciously. And let those dreams change you and the world around you in some positive way this coming year.
Throughout history, dreamers have shown better ways to get along. Even as cynics told them it was futile, dreamers have always pointed the way.
Ancient dreamers imagined that people could live in places other than caves. As humans advanced, the dreamers imagined societies run by laws instead of brutality. They eliminated diseases and created machines that could allow to fly so high we would visit other worlds. At every turn they were ignored or scoffed at or worse. They were told that it was wrong to imagine anything better.
Last week, we celebrated the birth of a dreamer who imagined the world run by God’s values. A place where everyone is treated as an equally loved child of God. A world in which we share with those in need, treat the stranger as a friend, forgive the inevitable hurts inflicted on us, heal with compassion, and transform enemies by loving them instead of fighting them.
Jesus’ dream was so big and so challenging that it got him killed, and that is no surprise. After all, dreamers make us uncomfortable. They force us to take a real look at our lives and our world. They challenge us to see that we could be and do much better than we are.
Dreamers point out that hatred will always fail to make things better. They remind us that the solution to too much violence, too much war and too many weapons will never be more violence, war and weapons. They teach us that what is in our hearts is what we bring into the world – and it’s up to us to change.
History shows us that, although we may have come a long way, many of our attitudes and choices have failed us. It is time to imagine something different.
In this coming year, I hope we can find the determination and the courage to dream. May we dream big and bold and do our very best to express our dreams in peaceful, compassionate and healing relationships. And then may we support and encourage others to dream as well. So that we might become people who transform our world with imagination and a commitment to something better.
Happy new year – let’s dream, Kathi
