When I was a kid, I had all kinds of ideas of what life would be like when I became an adult. I’d be rich, or at least doing well, my name would be widely known, or even famous. You know, fairly standard dreams for kids. As I aged, the details changed, and most toned down quite a bit. I still had dreams, but they became more realistic. Even now, I still have dreams of what I’d like to happen. But, most are just that, dreams.

I have nothing against dreams, but goals are easier to do something about. Though most people freely interchange those two terms, I have decided that they are decidedly different. I didn’t come up with that thought on my own, but I do like the questions it raises.

A dream happens when you sleep, or are not fully awake. Goals require work and mental coherence. In other words, a dream will always be a dream unless you wake up and do something about it.

For example, dreaming about the perfect job doesn’t really help. Even if you were to wake up to that job offer, they still expect you to work at it. OK, enough silly stuff for now.

There is an old saying that says, “if you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” I think mine rated more a head shake than a chuckle, but I get the meaning. We are so quick to tell God what we intend to do, and so slow to see what He has in mind. Oh, we ask for His approval of our ideas, but to actually stop and ask before we plan; that’s crazy talk.

Proverbs 19:21 and Proverbs 16:9 say that men have a lot of plans, but only God’s will stand and people plan in their hearts but God directs their steps. We aren’t going to outmaneuver God, so why do we keep trying to? Pride. We still think we know better than the Creator of the universe.

This doesn’t mean that we should wait until God outlines every single step we need to take. It doesn’t mean that He is going to hand us a road map to the end goal. He might just point us in a direction and tell us to walk. What it means is that we need to listen to Him so that we know when He speaks.

Is it wrong to dream? I don’t think so. What is wrong is when we think that God will hand us everything we want on a silver platter. I’m still not rich, I’m still not famous. Should I be angry at God for not taking care of that for me? Not at all. He didn’t promise that to me. Which is good; I’m sure I would have found a way to mess both of those things up if He had given them to me.

There will be rich and poor people, famous and unknowns, big and small, tall and short, and you get the idea. Another old saying is that it takes all kinds of people. It does. Short people may not play basketball much, but they have a lot less head injuries walking through doors. Don’t get caught up in chasing dreams that are just dreams. Set your goals on following God’s will. It won’t always be easy, but the retirement plan can’t be beat.