Dream On

“And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh” (Genesis 37:19).

Where do dreams come from? I mean, really, what is their source? I’m not talking about the “movie” you subconsciously watched in your R.E.M. sleep because you ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream too late last night. No, I’m talking about that divinely preferred future that has you playing a major role in the script and screenplay. 

What in the world made a child of a mixed racial heritage think that he could become one of only forty-four persons who have held the distinction of legitimately being called (POTUS) President of the United States? Do you think that could be the Lord? Do you think!? 

Would we be better off if John McCain and Sarah Palin had won in 2008? Or if Romney and Ryan had won in 2012? I know that Mr. Obama wrote about The Audacity of Hope in his second book. And I know his campaign manager David Plouffe wrote about The Audacity to Win. But the audacity to dream -- where in the world did that come from?!

Dreamers. Rare people they are. Initially they carry these big dreams with precious little support.  

With respect to Barack Obama’s bid for the White House, I remember leaders who I respected -- having attended a Black private elementary school where I first read and memorized the works Langston Hughes and other Renaissance writers, having attended one of the nation’s four remaining Black boarding academies and having attended an HBCU founded in 1896 -- I remember prominent Black leaders who had some not-so-nice things to say about then-Senator Obama having the “audacity” to make a run for the White House. The thinking was that he needed to wait his proverbial turn.

But he didn’t. And he won.

I don’t think God puts too many dreamers in the world. Joseph in the Bible was a dreamer. He had some rascals for brothers. But he had some good brothers too. Neither the good nor the “bad” saw what he saw ... UNTIL LATER.  

It seems that the dreamer has to believe in what she or he has seen even when people she or he loves and respects don’t see it. And then she or he has to have the courage and tact to sell that dream to others. Joseph eventually convinced a cupbearer (Genesis 40:8-16). Things do eventually catch on. But the dreamer has to believe the dream FIRST.

Good things can happen for you and for the world if you’ll believe in your God-given dreams enough to follow them. So, the next time someone pejoratively calls you a dreamer, thank them.