Cloud Walker: Are Your Dreams God's Dreams?

nefelibata (n.) lit. "cloud walker"; one who lives in the clouds of their own imagination or dreams, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature, or art Every girl I have ever met is a dreamer. We look up at a full moon and wonder if our beloved is somewhere also looking up at that moon. We buy every work of Jane Austen and sew regency dresses for a ball that we will never attend. We are created to long for a righteous man to support and love till death do us part. And so we spend our single years pining away, eagerly awaiting the time when we say "I do" and our lives at last begin. As a child, I used to go tramping through the sunlight woods calling out, "Aslan! Aslan!" thinking that if I only believed hard enough, I might be taken to that magical land of Narnia. Most young women can relate to this childhood fancy. Many still cling passionately to their dreams. Whether it is that Mr. Bingley might at last take up residence in your neighborhood and dance every reel with you alone, or that Laurie will take you off to Europe with him, or that you might save Narnia from final peril, we all have a secret longing. Too often we allow this desire to take root in our heart. We feed and water it with fairytale novels, dreamy movies, and those midnight reflections. Forgive me for dashing cold water across your lovely dreams, but you must forsake them. We cannot waste away these precious years clinging to unrealistic visions. Life will never be a fairytale; there is no "happily ever after" while upon this earth, because we were not created for this world, but for the next. God has blessed us with these single years; they are a gift. It is with them that we can accomplish much good for Christ. "And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in the body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." 1 Corinthians 7: 34-35 We must await our vocation with patience. If our vocation is to marriage, we can't bring it on any faster with all our sighing and daydreams. We must place our future in the outstretched hands of our loving Lord. "For a stalk to grow or a flower to open there must be time that cannot be forced; nine months must go by for the birth of a human child; to write a book or compose music often years must be dedicated to patient research ...To find the mystery there must be patience, interior purification, silence, waiting...." -Blessed John Paul II Don't wish these years away, they are a gift from God! Use them to further the Kingdom of God, influence your family and friends (siblings especially), and to prepare for your vocation in life. These years should bear much fruit. Your life doesn't begin when you're married; rather, life becomes more complicated! Spend these years for the Lord. We do not live in a quaint hobbit hole or in the great estate of Pemberley. We will never grace those places. We will most likely never know the thrill of moonlight boat rides or looking down upon a suitor from the balcony. Dreams are beautiful, but we mustn't use our lives pining after an illusion. Live in your present stage in life, and be content. Ask the Lord for the gift of contentment and the strength to bloom where you are planted! "Do not desire faraway things, that is, things that cannot happen for a long time, as many people do, and by so doing wear out and waste their hearts to no purpose and expose themselves to the danger of becoming very discontented." ~St. Francis De Sales