Proverbs Chapter 13

Welcome back to Riddles of the Wise. We are on day 13 of this journey together, and I hope you are learning a ton!

I told you a few days ago that Jill and I’s first residential purchase was a duplex. We lived there for a few years, and then Jill got pregnant. After that, we decided that we wanted a slightly bigger place. Jill wanted to decorate a baby room in a new house. I just wanted to stop hearing the people upstairs walk around while I was trying to watch the Lakers game. 

We sold our duplex, found a house, bought it, and moved in. We quickly became friends with our neighbors, and really wanted to invite them to church. However, they were 30.  Too old for the college group that I led, and too young to feel at home on a Sunday in our very traditional church. I found myself telling them to go to other churches, not ours, so that they would have a good experience. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do. 

I wanted to start a church that I would be really excited to invite my neighbors. That day, I started dreaming, talking about, and picturing what it would be like. But, I never actually did anything more than just dream. One day, a friend of mine, Dan Valentine, walked into the board room at our church, sat down right in front of me, looked at me very seriously, and said, “If you could do anything in the world right now, what you do?”

I mumbled for a second. Then, I said, “I’d start a church.”

He looked at me and said, “Well, what’s stopping you?”

I was stunned, and inspired! I couldn’t think of anything that was really stopping me. I didn’t know what to say, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said. Dan’s point was clear, and so is Solomon’s on the same subject:

Prov. 13:4, “A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.”

Big dreams are a dime a dozen. Dreamers don’t get anywhere. Doers do. It’s the people who quit making excuses and decide to work diligently towards those dreams that experience real satisfaction in life. People who sit around and dream, but refuse to act on that dream, never get to taste the victory. Good intentions don’t accomplish dreams. High hopes and lofty goals don’t take you closer to God given dreams. Diligent work toward those goals is what pushes us closer to achieving them.

Write down some goals for your life today by asking:

What do you want to accomplish? What kind of person do you want to be? How do you want to be remembered?

Then, ask the million-dollar questions:

What am I doing today to actually make these dreams a reality? What’s going to change?  How will you get started? What’s the very first step?

Talk to God about your dreams. Ask Him to give you new dreams, or give you the strength, guidance, and ability to start pursuing the ones He has already put in your heart. Start looking for ways to begin working diligently to make those dreams become realities.

Have a great day!

Shawn