When Your Field of Dreams Passes You By

For some of us with shattered dreams, it seems too late ever to dream again … but is it? Please consider this excerpt from my book, before you decide. It is from a chapter is entitled Field of Dreams:
All the King’s Horses, pp 239-240 http://www.amazon.com/dp/1629984191

“There wasn’t a doubt in his mind he was going to play for the Yankees … I marveled at the simplicity and purity of his ability to believe. Here he was, a multiply-handicapped child whose battle just to walk had been dealt a major blow this past year through severe illness. Yet the faith he held for his future hadn’t wavered, not even a bit …

It’s almost funny. There was a time I thought God would perform all the miracles I pleaded so hard for. I was convinced my son would come all the way back to us from the nebulous world of brain injury. He was going to be totally healthy in mind, body and soul. I don’t remember when my own dreams died, but it seemed like long ago now. Somewhere along the line, I’m not sure when, the day came when I began to feel like a fool for ever having dreamed so high.

More than I can tell you, I hated the thought of asking my son to let go of his dreams too. But maybe instead of helping him cling to childish fantasies, it was time to begin easing him toward the harsh realities of his life by letting him know how limited his prospects really were in this world. Perhaps this is what he needed to keep him from being crushed even more in the future …

Oh, how my son loved baseball … Movies like Field of Dreams are successful, I think, because they remind us that impossible dreams occasionally come true. They touch a place deep within our hearts that is dormant, a place that most of us locked safely away behind a double-bolted door long ago. To open that door in real life risks far too much pain. In a world full of brutal realities it seems best just to leave that door locked and retreat to the safety of dreaming vicariously through movie plots, spectator sports and romance novels.

There was a place in my heart, and no doubt in yours too dear reader, that once inspired us. That place literally gave us a passion for living. Remember? That place has been all but forgotten by most of us as we live out our mundane lives. Yet every once in a while something stirs from inside that locked door, and just briefly, a muffled sound can almost be heard. But we’re adults with responsibilities now. The mere suggestion that there could be something, anything worth exploring deep down inside must be dismissed! Yet we could swear we heard … felt … something …

Could there yet be a reason to hope for a happy ending to my story, or yours? … That our lives can somehow be rescued? … O Lord! Who are we trying to kid?! We can’t allow ourselves to be hurt! Not again! Leave well enough alone! Broken dreams cannot be repaired!

Imagine someone actually believing it would be safe to unlock that door. Hah! I suppose they’d also believe that a Hero would meet us on the other side, making it safe to come out. Right! Maybe the Hero would be a Rescuer who knew the most sordid details of our past, and all our miserable failures, who understood all our disappointments and dashed dreams, but still came knocking on that door, calling, confident that He could bring about the reclamation of our dreams, and of our lives. Talk about a whopper! Who do they think they’re kidding?! Only themselves!

Movie heroes are valiant, even godlike, sometimes daring even to die for the sake of those threatened with death themselves. My Hero would need to be beyond any that Hollywood has ever produced. In view of the years the locusts have eaten in my life, he’d have to hold time itself in His hands. He’d have to possess the power of the Universe. Talk about far-fetched! He’d need to be the greatest Physician this world has ever known.

Listen, opening my door would mean more than just curing an illness. My Hero would have to specialize in resurrection. Only then would it possibly be safe to risk opening that door. As I said, fiction! No one would dare to make such a movie! Shear fantasy!

Still, the thought of a Hero like that gives me the chills. If a Hero like that ever showed up at my door, I’d not only open it, I tell you I’d follow Him anywhere! Even if He said I had to change everything, and do things His way from now on.

Walking with such a Hero would be worth any cost. What would I really be giving up, anyway? I might even put aside my excuses and stop trying to convince people just how unfair my life has been. Yes, I might put aside my victim mentality and just go after Him!

I suppose the Hero might ask me to leave some of my broken dreams behind. But who knows? A Hero that powerful and good just might have another dream in mind, a better dream! …

Oh, for Pete’s sake, I’m actually getting drawn into this! Enough already! This whopper of a movie plot is getting downright silly! … Then again, just imagine if a Hero like that ever showed up at my door … … at your door …

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Jesus) Revelation 3:20

“I am the resurrection and the life” (Jesus) John 11:25

“Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten” Joel 2:25

All the King’s Horses – Finding purpose and Hope in Brokenness and Impossibility, pp 249-250