Every Person is Born with a Dream

There are very few elementary kids who put “idk” when told to write what they want to be when they grow up. For me, it was something different every month; From a NASCAR driver to a doctor to a barber to a lawyer to a pro baseball player and eventually president of course. But as we get older, those dreams and aspirations change. We come to the unfortunate realization we can’t all be astronauts and ballerinas. And we certainly can’t all be president. By the time I hit high school, I had given up on all of my perfect careers ideas. I decided I would just breeze through the next four years, and then blow two more at a community college. After that I’d work at Whataburger until I achieved “Employee of the Month”. Now a senior, I look back and have to smile at how God changed my outlook on my future. I realized that gliding through life as an average “good kid”, was super boring and a super waste. But there’s one thing that’s never changed in my life. My voice. My dad has had a bad ear for as long as I can remember, but he jokes that he’s never had a problem hearing me. And it’s true, even during those years when I was the quiet, awkward kid, I was still loud on the inside. In fact, my life was miserable when I kept my voice on the inside… Sorry, rabbit trail. You know those weird kids who are just really curious about things? Yeah that was me. I’ve always thought it would be cool to lose my voice. To have to croak out every word… Be careful what you wish for. Last week, Homecoming week of all weeks, I got what I asked for. Laryngitis is not all it’s cracked up to be. And croaking every word to your date is terribly embarrassing no matter how much he says “it’s cute”. One thing I’ve learned, however, is how valuable our voices are. I learned the meaning of “you never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”.  I know what I want to be. I know what God  wants for my life. And it’s not sitting on the side lines. I think He kept my voice for a while to show me how much I love using it, and how much I need to use it. And how much we ALL need to use it. Not just to sit and watch this world rush by. It’s just like Matthew West’s song: “If you’re livin’, if you’re breathin’, you’ve got something to say. You know if your heart is beatin’, you’ve got something to say. And NO ONE can say it like you. God’s Love in us speaks true. You got it, you got it, you’ve got something to say.”