July 30th, 2021
Any Disney fans out there? I've got a sign on my desk with a quote from Walt Disney that says "if you can dream it, you can do it". You can see a picture of that sign attached to this devotion.
Every time I see that sign, it makes me wonder how often we dream too small, how often we set our expectations too low and we put limits on our possibilities. When applying for jobs, do we look at some great jobs and say "I'll never get that job, so I'm not even going to apply"? For those in school, do you have confidence that you can be an A student? Perhaps others have told you, or you may have even told yourself, that is something you can't do. When we think we can only be a B student, guess what we will be... a B student. And we can't get a job that we don't even apply for. These are just a couple examples, and I am sure that you have examples of this from your own life, examples of when you have set your expectations low, you have put limits on what could happen and you have held back on the size of your dreams.
We all do this, and I think we do it to protect ourselves. Somewhere deep inside ourselves we tell ourselves that if we set our expectations low, we can meet them and won't feel like we failed. But what are we missing out on when we do that. What if Walt Disney stopped drawing like so many told him to? What if all of these Olympians when they were injured or when they were struggling decided to stop competing?
What if the disciples never left Jerusalem? Yes, this conversation also applies to faith too. How often do we limit what we think God will do just because we don't want to be disappointed? How often do we pray small? When serving and worshiping, how often do we put limits on what might happen? I don't know exactly when or exactly how my prayers will be answered. But I do know that we serve a BIG God! I know that we serve a God who created everything in the universe, a God that exceeds all expectations, a God that can do anything. We can't possibly pray for something so large that God can't do it.
Walt Disney said if we can dream it, we can do it. I think the church version of that is "if we can pray it, God can do it". So let's not put limits of what we ask of God. Let's not pray small prayers. Let's pray big because our big God is able to give big answers to big prayers! Amen.
Blessings,
Reverend Dave
Every time I see that sign, it makes me wonder how often we dream too small, how often we set our expectations too low and we put limits on our possibilities. When applying for jobs, do we look at some great jobs and say "I'll never get that job, so I'm not even going to apply"? For those in school, do you have confidence that you can be an A student? Perhaps others have told you, or you may have even told yourself, that is something you can't do. When we think we can only be a B student, guess what we will be... a B student. And we can't get a job that we don't even apply for. These are just a couple examples, and I am sure that you have examples of this from your own life, examples of when you have set your expectations low, you have put limits on what could happen and you have held back on the size of your dreams.
We all do this, and I think we do it to protect ourselves. Somewhere deep inside ourselves we tell ourselves that if we set our expectations low, we can meet them and won't feel like we failed. But what are we missing out on when we do that. What if Walt Disney stopped drawing like so many told him to? What if all of these Olympians when they were injured or when they were struggling decided to stop competing?
What if the disciples never left Jerusalem? Yes, this conversation also applies to faith too. How often do we limit what we think God will do just because we don't want to be disappointed? How often do we pray small? When serving and worshiping, how often do we put limits on what might happen? I don't know exactly when or exactly how my prayers will be answered. But I do know that we serve a BIG God! I know that we serve a God who created everything in the universe, a God that exceeds all expectations, a God that can do anything. We can't possibly pray for something so large that God can't do it.
Walt Disney said if we can dream it, we can do it. I think the church version of that is "if we can pray it, God can do it". So let's not put limits of what we ask of God. Let's not pray small prayers. Let's pray big because our big God is able to give big answers to big prayers! Amen.
Blessings,
Reverend Dave
1 Comment
Dream big. Plan big. Pray big.