Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)
This tree design is carved on the tombstone of some unknown individual. They dream no more. Was their hope ended too?
Perhaps we can’t agree on the origin or value of hope, but even the most jaded members of humankind dream. We dream because we wish to possess, capture or covet some outcome – success, happiness, riches, admiration, love, power, just to suggest a few. Dreams release us for a time from the reality in which we find ourselves.
As we go about our lives, we struggle with the dis-ease that exists when what we believe has been promised and hoped for has not yet come to be. Deferring our hope leads to doubting the truth that is the foundation of that hope. Our hearts are sick. When we realize our dreams, we are given a reprieve from our heart’s sickness and we are encouraged to continue on.
Our dreams expire at death. What we have hoped for begins at death. Our hearts are healed not by our dreams but by the fulfillment of our hopes.
