“Cheer up sleepy Jean, what does it mean, to daydream believer…?”
“Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.” (Jonas Salk)
In the past 45 years or so I have written hundreds upon hundreds of pages of content, page after page of stories, commentaries, wisdom and pieces of advice, as well as a hundred or more songs, worship choruses, and other bits and pieces of musical content.
But you say you haven’t read any of my stuff? You say you haven’t heard of me before? Well, that is very likely. And I can give you one very good reason for my obscurity.
It’s because I haven’t published anything. Or at least I have published a very precious little percentage of what I have written.
In a writing session a while back I found myself being reflective about my life and in a moment of brutal honesty I described myself as a singer who rarely sings, a speaker who rarely speaks, and a writer who rarely writes. I think subconsciously I was looking for someone to blame. I didn’t have to look far.
The fault lies not with the world around me, or the fact that my adoring public doesn’t adore me. The simple fact of the matter is this; I know the enemy well and it is me. Like most of us I have dreams. Some are big and some are small. The size of the dream doesn’t matter. They are all dreams nonetheless, as are yours. All of us have things we would like to do. It may be simply to carve more time out of our schedules to play with our children or grandchildren. It may be to carve time out of our schedule to have a date night with our wife or husband. It may be to write a book or to record that song you have written on the back of an envelope and buried in the bottom of your sock drawer.
I would guess your problem is the same as mine. You are your own worst enemy. Oh sure, you can blame it on everybody and everything else, but none of your excuses—none of my excuses—hold water in the end.
The great T. E. Lawrence once wrote, “All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
As I read those words it was like a dagger in my heart and spirit because it describes me so well. I look back on 74 years of life and I have to confess I have been more the “dreamer by night” then the “dreamer by day” who actually gets things done.
Let me ask you one simple question; Which dreamer will you be, the dreamer by night or the dreamer by day? Will you be the dreamer who dreams fabulous lofty dreams at 3 o’clock in the morning but lets the reality of life squeeze it out of you with your morning coffee? Or will you be the dreamer by day that puts on your work clothes and gets down to the hard work of making your dreams a reality?
I have to ask myself that same question. I can only hope that I will have diligence, the discipline, and the passion to be that daytime dreamer.
I hope you will do the same.