“Follow your dreams. Reach for the stars.”
I looked up at the bright stars, shining down familiarly like old friends. I listened to the crackling of the campfire and thought of all my hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. Then I looked at the fire, and the beautiful, bright, glowing sparks caught my attention.
They were shooting up toward the stars… but one by one, they all disappeared into the night. And all of a sudden, I realized that life is about so much more than chasing dreams and reaching for stars. We are called to shine like stars.
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world …” – Philippians 2:14-15 KJV
Like the sparks, I may shoot for a million stars, but if I lose sight of my true purpose and calling, all I have achieved will have been in vain. There may be nothing inherently wrong with having dreams and working towards turning them into reality, but the problem appears when I fall into the trap of magnifying their importance and forgetting my calling.
Often, I make the mistake of thinking my happiness depends on where I live, what kind of lifestyle I have, who my friends are, which career I pursue, and what I achieve in my life. I think that in order to have a fulfilled life, I have to fulfill my dreams. But when I looked that night at the sparks and the stars in the sky, I realized that that’s not true. In order to have a fulfilled life, I have to fulfill my purpose, the purpose for which God has put me in the world.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
Dear friend, as children of God, we are called to shine like stars in the world to the glory of God. Striving to live a pure and blameless life and faithfully doing what is right “without grumbling and arguing” might not sound as glamorous and thrilling as chasing dreams and shooting for stars. But in doing them, we will find a lasting joy that will outlive our wildest dreams and a beauty and brightness that will shine out into the darkness.
And, in the end, it won’t matter how many dreams we fulfilled, but how we lived our lives. Sparks vanish, dreams fade. But our light will never fade when we’ve lived every moment of our lives to the glory of our everlasting Father; when we’ve shown love, mercy, and kindness to others as Christ has shown to us.
So as we dream dreams and walk through life, I pray we’ll never forget our purpose and our calling. May our hopes and dreams honor God, and may we always shine together like stars in the world for His glory.
