The #1 Killer of Dreams

(This is part 2 from my opening message for 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory)

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Do you still have dreams? You used to.

You used to dream big, exciting, audacious dreams in which you were courageous and fully alive. In those dreams you saw yourself as successful. In fact, the funny thing about the dreams that you used to have is that in your old dreams they didn’t show you running for President – you were just the President. They skipped the process.

You weren’t in law school or med school – you were just a lawyer or a doctor. It didn’t show you working day and night to study the playbook, you were just an NFL quarterback. In your dreams you were already an astronaut or a pilot or chef or a teacher or a pastor or a rock star or an actress or a New York Times bestselling author – dreams have a way of skipping the process and going right to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and this is partly what makes dreams so much fun.

Then we move out of mom’s house with our dreams a bit battered by the madness they call high school, but we still have them, until something nefarious comes along. More evil than Darth Vader & Jigsaw, more sinister than a child spawned by the Joker & Cruella DeVille – something ominous comes along that has eaten away at all of our dreams…

Wanna know what it is…3 words…maybe 2.5

To-Do List!

You used to have dreams. Beautiful dreams. Amazing dreams. You used to have self-esteem. You used to really believe in yourself and in the possibilities of who you could become, but you traded your dreams in for a to-do list.
Do laundry.
Pay cell phone bill or ask for extension.
Return emails.
Download iPhone app.
Be nice.
Blow dust off of Bible.
Read Bible.
Lose weight.
Cook dinner.
Eat breakfast.
Clip coupons.
Look for new job.
Improve resume.
Find doctor for pain.
Look at college websites.
Don’t die.
Start praying.
Join health club.
Cancel HBO before free trial ends.

You traded your dreams in for a to-do list. It’s not even a juicy to-do list. It’s not really pro-active – it’s a reactionary list. A never-ending list of semi-important things you need to do to pretty much maintain the status quo in your life, but the Bible says that Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundantly. Jesus did not come and die on the cross so that your sorry butt could cancel HBO 30 minutes before the free trial ends.

I’d like to jog your memory. Forget about the to-do list for a minute and I want you to remember your childhood dreams. For some of you that is going to require a bit more digging than others, but I want you to start thinking and remembering your childhood dreams and I want you to grab the little notebooks in front of you. They’re yours to keep. Grab a notebook. We’re going to sing the song Free, and while we sing, I want you to write everything you can remember about who and what you dreamed of becoming…

Trust me, this exercise is going to help you in many ways for where we are about to go.

Tagged as: 100 Life Goals, to-do list