"The Office" and Broken Dreams

As mentioned in a previous post, my wife and I have gotten into the show "The Office" (I don't remember if I mentioned my wife was into it too, but she is). We are are now 3/4 of the way through season two. The last episode we saw was "Take Your Daughter To Work Day".

In the middle of the episode, the lead character Michael Scott shows a video of himself on a children's program many years ago. In it he states his life dream is to get married and have a hundred kids so he would have a hundred friends. In reality, he is still single, has no kids, and in truth, very few (if any) friends. In the deleted scenes of the episode, we see where the receptionist Pam realizes she has not realized her dream of being an artist. Once again the dream is not reality at the time.

So many people have found themselves in the land of broken dreams. The marriage that did not happen. The career path we can't seem to find. Sometimes we just have no clue what to do. We start jobs we wanted to do (and even trained in college for) only to find out we hate the job. Sometimes we have a good idea of what we should do but don't know how to realize it. Even the knowledge of a divine call from God to a particular path does not seem to bring the dream about.

What shall we do? Well, as one who is in the middle of trying to discern the next step in God's path to the dream, I can only offer limited advice. But here goes.

1) Is this my dream or God's dream He knows us better than we know ourselves. Perhaps we need to review and make sure that our dream is God's dream (or if you prefer, vision) for us or is it one we have made up for ourselves.

2) Trust God's character This may be harder than we realize. But we have to trust that what the Bible says about God is actually true. And if he calls us to a particular path, he knows how to lead us down that path correctly.

3) Remember the Experiences of Bible people God' divine call on Joseph took him on a path through an Egyptian prison. God's divine call on David took him to wandering as a fugitive in the wilderness. God's divine call on Saul of Tarsus took him to 3 years in Arabia and probably 10 years of living at home in his hometown (possibly in his parent's house). In other words, God' s path does not always make human sense.

4) Avoid Good Distractions It's easy to forget your call while on the journey. If you land in a good job on the path to the dream, you can forget the dream and pursue the job instead. One of the hardest steps on my path was probably leaving a secular job I had landed to refocus on God's dream for me.

5) Avoid Bad Distractions This should seem obvious, but when we get discouraged on the path to the dream, the bad distractions can take us out.

6) Enjoy the Journey This is probably the hardest part for me personally. But the journey to the dream should be enjoyed, though it is sometimes hard to do this. Sometimes the hardest part of the vacation to a desired place (such as Walt Disney World) is enjoying the drive to get there. Yet, there can be enjoyable stops enroute (such as Rock City) that while not as good as the destination, can still be great fun.

7) Insert Point Seven Here OK, I have only six points, but leaving it at six just didn't seem right.

The advantage the Christian has over the characters on "The Office" is God. That's good. That's the best!