Forward?

The dream is just outside my kitchen wall.  And suddenly, I'm scared spit-less!

Weeks ago we launched a project I've dreamed of for a couple of years.  My eat-in kitchen has continued to shrink as my family has continued to grow.  Getting all twelve of us around the table for family dinner has become reminiscent of the days we spent living in an RV.

"Okay, you move slightly to the right so I can step around behind you and squeeze the high chair to the left of his elbow."

One morning while sipping coffee on my patio, I realized that if we could just put walls in and take out the sliding glass door, I'd have a terrific dining room.  Simple little project, right?

WRONG!

I talked about my dream dining room for many months. I shared my vision with every visitor standing in our small kitchen.  I talked about it so much that finally my family got tired of hearing it.

Dad stepped in with a financial jump start.  Frank recruited our builder friends Ed, Raymond and Steve to get it rolling.  Both son-in-laws committed to lending youthful muscle when needed. Our church family even contributed a Christmas offering to help.

Still, everyone helping has been extremely busy.  The work has gone slowly.  Some concrete this week.  Windows installed next week.  Waiting for the arrival of back ordered materials.  One small change at a time right outside my sliding glass door.  Creeping forward; creeping forward.

Until yesterday.........

I arrived home to discover that not only were they adding stucco to the outside walls, the inside drywall was completed and the mud was going on that moment.  I wasn't quite ready for the biggest change.

The sliding glass door was no where to be seen!  The kitchen was finally, completely, irrevocably open to the dream room.

My jaw dropped!  My hands patted involuntarily with delight!  My ears detected a squeal of joy escaping from my lips!

All evening I moved around the kitchen with a big, silly grin.  Of course, it's still in process.  Plastic sheeting covers my dining room furniture as well as the side cart.  The new room has a bare floor and naked walls.  But it's now part of the house.   No longer part of outside.  How exciting!

But my feelings while making coffee the next morning, caught me completely off guard.

The new space makes every noise in the kitchen echo - loudly.  And my once cozy kitchen has just doubled in size.  That's twice the floor space that will now need mopping.  That's more air conditioning to pay for in August. What have we done??!!

Is it too late to go back to the thought of putting in a french door between the two rooms?

As I stood hiding behind my steaming coffee cup, starring into the massive cavern that will become our long awaited dining room, understanding dawned.............

Sometimes, the realization of our dreams is frightening.

That moment standing just on the precipice that separates what was - from what will be.  It's a scarey spot! And I wondered how many of us allow our dreams to die on that precipice.

This dining room is the very thing I've wanted for years!  And now, just at the moment we're ready to "move in" to the dream fulfillment, I feel fear. Genuine anxiety.  Uncertainty.

Ah, the human condition.

That's why we need the courage provided by the ultimate Dream Giver!

Otherwise, the fear that naturally accompanies plunging headlong into dream fulfillment can paralyze and even extinguish our dreams.  It takes courage to make the leap from now to next.  It takes vision to look beyond the uncertainty of what is to the assurance of what will be.

May I challenge you this Valentine's Day? Don't allow fear of the UNKNOWN cause your dreams to be UNREALIZED!

Take a step back.  Get a deep breath.  Rehearse the vision.  And fling yourself forward.

Who knows what wonders await?!