Shattered Dreams

I've been perusing and re-reading Larry Crabb's Shattered Dreams lately, and his words have been particularly sweet for me.  Maybe for you, too...

[Most people go through their entire lives never speaking words to another human being that come out of what is deepest in them, and most people never hear words that reach all the way into that deep place we call the soul.  We almost never hear words that stir life within us, that pour hope into those empty spaces deep inside filled only with fear and frustration.  We rarely hear words that draw our soul into the soul of another human being and, together, into God].

[Shattered dreams are never random.  They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story.  The Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God, to help us begin dreaming the highest dream.  They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit to awaken, then to satisfy our highest dream].

[God is always working to make His children aware of a dream that remains alive beneath the rubble of every shattered dream, a new dream that when realized will release a new song, sung with tears, till God wipes them away and we sing with nothing but joy in our hearts].

[We can count on God to patiently remove all the obstacles to our enjoyment of Him.  He is committed to our joy, and we can depend on Him to give us enough of a taste of that joy and enough hope that the best is still ahead to keep us going in spite of how much pain continues to plague our hearts].

[The richest love grows in the soil of an unbearable disappointment with life.  When we realize life can't give us what we want, we can better give up our foolish demand that it do so and get on with the noble task of loving as we should.  We will no longer need to demand protection from further disappointment.  The deepest change will occur in the life of a bold realist who clings to God with a passion only his realistic appraisal of life can generate].

(Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams)