Castles in the Sky

Last night, I was babysitting what I am now claiming to be the most adorable and lovable 5 year-old boy. His parents are totally rad, and have built their 4 kids an incredible play room complete with a stage, art corner, swing and get this: a tree house. YES, a tree house, in the play room. You climb a ladder to get in, there are walls up to the ceiling, windows, a door and a painted night scene in the tree you can only see once climbing inside. I kept telling my new friend, Jackson, that he was living the life. I, in ALL seriousness, would love to currently have a tree house in my room. I would do all my work inside, read, talk, write and dream. It's more than amazing.


Before it was time to call it a night for Jackson (his siblings were already in bed), he wanted us to climb into the tree house and set up camp to pretend we were having a sleep over. We had pillows, blankets, stars, tree branches and our good conversation. I told him I loved the moon - how it was my favorite of all of God's creation, and how I wished to visit one day. He told me he'd rather go to Mars, you know - to check out aliens and things of the sort. We talked about watermelon, and how funny it'd be if eating a watermelon seed really did mean a watermelon would grow in your belly. What would a watermelon belly look like, anyway? ...I bet it'd look so funny. We yawned and pretended to make sleeping bags and continue to look at the sky (aka-the ceiling). I felt young and free. Anything I imagined in that moment I could one day make a reality. No matter how absurd or far away a thought was, I could speak it aloud and dream of its one-day existence.

A much needed dose of reality has set in for me this year, concerning all things included in "adulthood". While I needed to see, experience and taste reality - I do not believe God's intention was to show me what life is neccesarily, but to help me recongnize the process of creating something beautiful. There's hard work involved, but dirt on my hands doesn't just make my palms dirty-it builds something.

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
-Henry David Thoreau

My glimpse into the truth and heart of life was not to ruin my dreams, goals and high aspirations, it was to ground them in Christ. I am firmly rooted and established in the foundation of Christ and love for Him and His church, and now my castles in the sky are a direct result of this. I’ve got the top of this castle, and more importantly I've got the bottom – now I need the grace of God and hard work of building the in-between.

If God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine (Eph 3:20), I feel my goal is to dream big and dream far…and see if God is true to His Word in topping it.

I double-dog dare you…

Over and out.