Avoiding The Dream-Crusher

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." Matthew 7:6

Have you ever shared a dream or a great idea with someone? You have this grand idea for something, and all they do is laugh at you? Or worse, they pick apart why what you just said won't work. They debate your ideas- and often times, those "suggestions" often come unprovoked. You were excited- you had a plan and an idea, and one mention of it to one person, and now your idea isn't looking so great to you. Even worse is when you are certain this is an idea that God has given you- a direction for your life. Yet the whole idea has literally been crushed before your eyes. It's so easy to get caught up with the naysayers and maybe discard those ideas . So how do we stop from becoming discouraged with our ideas and dreams?

We stop giving our pearls to pigs. And we seek out the people who maybe are going to appreciate our pearls.

Take heart in knowing that your dreams, your visions, and your ideas are from God- it's just that sometimes, other men, other people of God don't see the vision that you see. And that's okay- but we must not be discouraged by these naysayers. This just means that God's plan will be even better when it comes to fruition. This just means that the right people to help you see that dream become a reality are not in your scope of influence yet. We need to wait on God and watch for that other dreamer. We need to keep our eyes open for those other people who also are treasuring their pearls.

God has plans for us all. Sometimes they are plans for now- and sometimes, he gives us a vision that won't come to fruition for many years. We can hold to this. We can hold to the fact that they are visions and ideas from God, we just need to learn to be careful who we share these dreams and visions with. After a while, I think you recognize the person or persons who aren't going to share your enthusiasm. So you hold those pearls to yourself- recognize they are valuable, and only when someone inquires about your pearls do you let them out a bit at a time to share.

And also, lets be careful to not be the pigs in someone else's life. When someone else shares a dream or vision with us, lets remember this verse and not be quick to pick apart another person's vision. We maybe don't agree with it, and it very likely isn't a dream that's meant for us to share in, but we can appreciate that person sharing this vision with us. We can pray with that person about their dream and we can support them. I think this is especially important when talking with young people and youth. They are so full of dreams and hopes and visions for the future. We who have gone before them may know a better reality- but woe to the person who crushes that tender young spirit! Let them keep their dreams and hopes for the future. let them keep their zest and zeal for life and what may lay ahead for them. We can encourage them and we can pray with them and pray for them- and give them an example of how a Christian should act to their fellow Christians- as an encouragement. Our role in life is not to walk around and shoot holes in other people's ideas. Our role, our job as Christians is to lift each other up, to encourage one another, and most importantly, to pray for one another when we need it.

Let's not be pigs.