| New Year resolutions: Aim high says J John |
 New Year resolutions: Aim high says J JohnJ John’s storytelling helps people to discover spiritual meaning in a way that makes sense of everyday life. He encourages us to set our sights high and dream big. A professor prepared a test for his final-year students. The test questions were divided into three categories and the students were instructed to choose questions from only one of the categories. The first questions were the hardest and worth 100 points. The second group were easier and worth 50 points. The third ones were the easiest ones, so were only worth 25 points. When the tests were marked, the students who’d chosen the hardest, 100-point questions received an A grade. The students who’d chosen the 50-point ones received a B grade and those who’d chosen the 25-point easy questions were given a C. The students were furious with the grading of their test papers, but the professor explained: ‘I wasn’t testing your knowledge; I was testing your aim.’ Many of us do not aspire and dream dreams. We end up setting our sights really low in order to protect ourselves from failure and disappointment. We’re often told to ‘think outside the box’ but isn’t it time we simply realised there is no box! Let’s dream beyond our natural limits to allow a supernatural dimension to kick in. Dreams are the seedlings of reality. I agree with John Maxwell’s insight that without dreams, we will never reach beyond our current circumstances’. One of my favourite films is called Patch Adams. It’s the true story of an American doctor who dreams of building a free hospital that will offer courteous care and laughter along with its medicine. In his book, Gesundheit, Patch Adams wrote,‘When a dream takes hold of you, what can you do? You can run with it, let it run your life or let it go and think for the rest of your life about what might have been.’ For the Christian and for those who seek to follow Jesus, J John says: As long as our dreams are rooted in Christ, what can we lose if we run with them or even let them run away with us? When writing to the Colossians, the apostle Paul urged people to continue following Jesus, having accepted him as Lord. ‘Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him,’ he wrote. ‘Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness’ (Colossians 2:7). Imagine how much we might all achieve if we allowed our faith to grow. Why not begin in this enormous task by revisiting some of your dreams and aspirations? Perhaps prayerfully ponder with God what this next season of life is meant to be, remembering the words of the prophet Nike: ‘Just do it!’ Taken from J John’s eletter (www.philotrust.com) and used with permission. Follow J John on Twitter – twitter.com/canonjjohn |
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