Dreams

Dreams.
Don't sell your saddle, don't give up on dreams.
Take time to see them through,
there are no easy trails,
hard work makes dreams come true.

You'll make it through the tough times,
friends will stick like glue.
Don't ever sell your saddle.
Dreams won't give up on you
                               - Don Bishop

I remember reading this a long time ago, and while I'm not sure it all makes sense to me, the 'don't sell your saddle' part really hits me right in the heart.

Especially these crazy days.
Dreams.
It seems frivolous even, in a way, to talk about dreams.
We're talking about a pandemic, homelessness, the vulnerability of our elders in care facilities, fighting with each other about masks and toilet paper, and talking about dreams sounds like fluff.
Or does it?

Our ability to be resilient, to not only deal with whatever trials come before us, but to stand strong emotionally and spiritually without growing defeated depends in good part on our emotional bandwidth.
Where we find our strength, our refreshment, the juice to get up and do it AGAIN even if there's every reason we should be weary to the bone.
And I think that's where dreams come in.
I think it makes more sense maybe to call it our passion - what makes our eyes shine, our heart beat faster, joy run through our veins.
How often can you say you've felt any of those things lately?
But we need to.
I don't mean to make that sound like just one more chore or impossible to reach goal, but when our dreams are deferred it makes our hearts sick.
Yesterday a dear friend told me how hard the last six years had been on her; and what a toll it had taken on her spirit. Duty was the operative word, and dreams weren't even on the horizon.
She's out the other side now, and I could hear it in her voice.
I'll tell you a secret but I bet you already know it.
It's in the eyes.
When your eyes lose their shine, there's trouble.
I know; I've been there.
Getting back in the saddle after my wreck was my dream.
And thanks to Simba the wonder horse, the throw away rescue, I was able to throw a leg over again, at a time when doing so felt so far away and almost impossible.
And every time I do, I feel blessed. I feel that dream come true.
Each time I do, I feel more like the me I want to be.
You know that feeling when you immerse yourself in what you love.

If I can encourage you at all, in these weird and uncertain times, give those dreams flight.
Get them out of that box up on the top shelf of the closet, and dust them off.
Big dreams or small dreams.
Or both. Heck, get them all cleaned up.
I would love to hear about yours.
I think they are more important now than ever.
xoxo