Daring to Dream

History of the American Dream

1700 - I want to climb every mountain, ford every stream, and learn how to say "What up, dude" in Algonquin

1800 - I want the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and a cup of tea without a darn import tax

1900 - I want a house with those newfangled electric lights and a fur coat

2000 - I want to own my own house with a white picket fence, a family with 1.5 kids and affordable insurance premiums

Whether you were born a hundred hours ago, or a hundred years ago, you have a dream for what you want life to be like.  As Americans, we value freedom to own stuff and do what we want.  We like the financial freedom to own that house or that Ford F250.  We like the freedom to marry who we love, have the job we want and go to Vegas and play slots if we want.  As Christian Americans, we often have an American dream that's pretty mainstream, with some alterations to include a few "churchy" things. 

Sometimes I think about my Christian American Dream life.  It usually looks like this…

Little Mrs. Sunshine is happily settled five minutes outside Medium-Sized Americancity down Pastoral Scenic Lane.  She is married to Mr. Sunshine who works in town as a Some Career That Isn't Particularly Prominent or Stressful.  They have 3-5 beautiful children (particularly beautiful because Mr. Sunshine is so darn dashing), an average American dog, a flock of chickens and a Jersey cow. 

Mrs. Sunshine occupies her time teaching her children literature, geometry, history, physics, and various other subjects; tending her large vegetable garden; entertaining friends and family by throwing fabulous parties; serving as a Sunday school teacher and youth small group mentor; guest writing for various magazines and occasionally running 5ks and dancing the night away with her husband. 

The Sunshines live just out of town in a spacious stone home, not unlike the one the Jennifer Aniston lives in on Marley and Me.  It is always clean because the Sunshine children love helping their mother with chores.  They usually practice singing in three part harmony while they clean.  The refrigerator is full of produce from the gardens and orchard.  The Sunshine house is always featured on the local news during Christmas, when it stands aglow with Christmas lights.

(You probably have your own version.  Maybe it includes a New York City studio apartment and yellow coffee mugs and a cat named Moses.  I don’t know.)

Funny how if you erase those 11 words in that middle paragraph, you'd have no idea that I call Jesus the most important person in my life.  You'd have no idea from my American Dream life that I'm supposed to live in a way that's different, distinct, and, in the old school lingo - holy.  Not distinct like living in a commune in the woods, but distinct like having dreams bigger than anyone else because I serve a God bigger than any obstacle.

My Christian American Dream boils down to being

surrounded by things I like

comfortable

free from hard things like financially stress or disease or misunderstandings

a mom and wife to people who are easy to love (aka no stomach flu, no complaining, no crayons on the walls)

admired because I have a gorgeous, well behaved family, throw great parties, and have my life together

What if we dared the Christian American Dream to be a little more creative, a little bigger, a little more of a dream?  What if we challenged it to be a little more original than adding 11 words to someone else's dream? 

What if the average Christian American Dream was transformed from

I want the stuff I think will make me happy, and if it happens to include missions or VBS, cool.  I want to be comfortable and unstressed.  I want the results of hard work without the blisters and dirt hard work demands.

to

I want to shine the light of Jesus wherever I go.  I want to serve instead of be served.  I want to be a part of God's answer to the prayer that His people have prayed for thousands of years: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". 

What if my Christian American Dream became: I want a dream I could never accomplish on my own.

Go ahead, dream a little.  I dare you.

Little Miss Sunshine