So What if Your Dreams Will Cost You Something? Chase Them Anyway.

One day during a lunch-break walk, my coworker and friend Kelly and I were laughing about something I had shared in a blog the week prior. I was retelling the story to her when she said, “You should write a book.”

I laughed because the idea was ludicrous. However, her statement struck a lingering chord inside me.

As I was growing up, I loved reading and writing. I loved books. But real writers wrote books. So I pitched out all the reasons why that was the dumbest idea ever, despite the fact I would have loved to chase that dream of writing a book.

It would take time, which I didn’t have between work and the family. I was too busy managing the daily life of my kids. I’d have to find a babysitter or some sort of childcare to take time away to write.

Her response? “So what? I think you should do it anyway.”

So what?

A simple question, but it packed a punch. As I thought about it, her “so what?” somehow lightened the weight of the sacrifice I knew writing a book would cost.

Because that is what I was afraid of: the cost.

I wanted to do right for my family. I wanted and needed to focus on them. Surely pursuing my own dreams would get in their way, right?

But that question kept coming back to me — “so what?” It somehow lightened the weight of sacrifice.

With faith that Christ is able to compensate for our deficiencies, I know this to be true. These words made the burden of what I needed to sacrifice seem just a little less heavy.

What about you? What do your dreams include that might cost something? Maybe it’s time, money, pride, or any number of things. Maybe you’re worried about taking time away from focus on the kids? Maybe it’s just plain fear and uncertainty.

I’m going to boldly, and with all the love, ask you what Kelly asked me about my dreams. The dreams I had in the middle of mothering, in the middle of this crazy season of life focused on other people.

So what?

Christ is able to fill in the answer this “so what” asks of us. He knows the details we don’t, and when we take a step of faith toward that thing He’s laid on our heart, I believe He’ll part the way for us to get there.

Anything worth dreaming is worth paying for and stepping toward, if it comes from a holy and godly desire.

Romans 5 teaches us about costs.

“… we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5, emphasis mine)

Look at that bolded line, the one stringing together suffering and hope. Suffering to endurance. Endurance to character. Character to hope.

Hope is the end result. When we go through suffering, we have the opportunity to preserve and build character that leads to hope in God’s unfailing presence and love.

his verse is specifically referencing some of the big and heavy things of life. But the basic truth stays the same, even when talking about our hopes and dreams.

Hope costs something—but yields something greater.

Hope requires sacrifice.

If we hope to start a new Etsy shop with our beloved hobby of making jewelry, it’s going to take some sacrifice.

If we hope to run a marathon, it’s going to take some sacrifice. 

If we hope to finally plant that garden, it’s going to take some sacrifice.

Psalm 1: 3 says, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” (emphasis mine). Sure, reality demands us to practice wise discernment when deciding our season to do things we dream about. But just because it may not be your season now to do something doesn’t mean that your season won’t come later, even soon.

Regardless of when we decide to chase our dreams into our reality, it’s going to take sacrifice.

But “so what?”

Sacrifice, with patient endurance, leads to hope. And hope? That’s a sacrifice always worth taking.

Much love,

Kristin | *adapted from MoreforMomBook.com