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The inspirational video below, My Uncle’s Gift, shows how a man’s uncle encouraged him to pursue his dream. And guess what? His dream came true.
I recently dubbed myself a professional dreamer. In true Anne of Green Gables fashion, I’ve spent much of my life in a daydream of sorts.
As a little girl, I dreamed of being a teacher. And then an actress. And then a writer. And then–a missionary.
By my 20s, most of those dreams had been fulfilled in some way–well, except the actress part (unless you count the time I got to be Beth from Little Women in my high school play–now that was a dream come true!).
Along the way, some of those dreams have shattered. But, with time, I’ve picked up those broken pieces of my heart.
And, at 33, I’m still dreaming. The one dream I can’t get away from? Writing.
I started writing in 1st grade. My first story was about a giraffe who reached high into the trees to eat the luscious leaves.
Luscious? (I even spelled it correctly.)
“Luscious is not a word,” my teacher scribbled in red on my wide-lined notebook paper.
My mother wasn’t happy. She marched up to that 1st grade classroom, dictionary in hand, and flipped it open to the “L” section.
I watched her underline something with her finger for my teacher.
Sure enough, luscious was, indeed, a word.
And so, instead of that one discouraging note from my 1st grade teacher stilting me, it propelled me to dig deeper into this dream, this passion.
And my mother’s encouragement kept me going.
She has never considered herself a writer–that I know of–but she always excelled in language arts. She became my first editor.
Every single school writing assignment–the endless research papers and essays and even college thesis–she read and edited.
She underlined. She crossed out. She helped me polish.
Not too long ago a literary agent approached me about book writing.
If he had written me a year ago (as a publisher did, whom I promptly declined), I would have said “no.”
I can tell myself all the excuses in the book: I’m not ready. I’m not good enough. I’m too busy as it is. I have three small children and a home to manage and a blog and online business to run.
Yet, as I took several days to write back, I couldn’t quiet that passion inside.
And as I took some time to pray, I heard one thing: Write.
A book writer? Me?
I still do not know what will come of this–as my agent says this process can take years (and, thankfully, he is willing to wait on me).
But I do know this: Without my mama’s influence, this dream would have burned out long ago.
As a mama to three little dreamers now myself, I want to be like my mother: I want to watch out for their passions, help them hone them and encourage them to dream.
Do you have someone in your life who has encouraged you to dream? What are your dreams?
This post was encouraged by the “Keep Good Going” campaign.
Keep Good Going is about the idea of perpetuating the personal good that positively affects everyone in your life (your family). It’s the good you want to pass onto others you care about—in big or small ways—because you know how it can positively shape their life experiences.
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Jennifer S.
I dreamed of being a wife and mommy – that’s all I wanted out of life. All the time I was growing up my parents encouraged me to gain the skills I would need when I started living my dream. Now sixteen years into a fantastic marriage and eight babies later I am so happy that I’ve been given my dream. I’m also thankful for my parents helping me to gain valuable skills that help me everyday in caring for my family.