Dream A Bigger Dream With Me

Many kids love when they hear these words come from our lips: "Make a list of everything you'd like...(for your birthday or Christmas...)" We tell them there are no boundaries. We do not set limitations. We do not establish a spending cap. We just give them a piece of paper and pencil and say, "Go at it!"

Without hesitation, they enthusiastically start writing. They list things big and small. Things they see other kids having. Things they dream of having that no one else has. Things they've always wanted to have but were too afraid to ask for. They start free-flow writing based on the idea that absolutely nothing is impossible and there is no wrong answer. They dream and dream BIG.

Then they turn in their papers and anxiously wait for our response. They hope we will put full consideration into each item listed - even the pet alligator they're hoping we secretly have a soft spot for. They know the decision is ultimately in our hands, but they at least have made their request known and the worst we can say is, "No."

I believe our Father loves these kind of Wish Lists from His children. For the One who says, "Everything is possible" (Mark 10:27 NLT) is also the One that says, "Ask! Seek! Knock!" (Matthew 7:8 NLT) and "You do not have because you do not ask God." (James  4:2 NIV) He wants to hear from our lips the dreams we have. He wants to hear our requests. And I think it just tickles Him when we pray big because we are seeing Him for who He is - the God that makes dreams happen. 

And it seems, the closer we get to Him, the bigger our requests become. We might first start out small, asking only what we might actually see possible from a human perspective. But then God shows us that He can handle even bigger requests. So we pray a little bigger, a little more bold, a little bit more outside the box. And then like swimming out into deeper waters, we start praying for the outrageous. We say, "What the heck. Just throw it out there. Put it on the wish list. The worst He can say is 'No.'" And our dreaming becomes just that: Dreaming. We stop putting limitations on what we think God can and can't do. We stop deciding for Him and slashing down our dreams before giving Him a chance to respond and answer for Himself. And with childlike faith, we scribble out our lists, knowing nothing is off limits and nothing is impossible for such a big God.