Keep Dreaming

An Advent pep talk for listening to our hearts

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Welcome to Walk & Talk, my monthly offering to share stories, inspiration, and hope. I’m Kim Knowle-Zeller, mama, pastor, and writer. I’ve lived in West Africa and one summer hiked 500 miles across Spain, and now I call Cole Camp, MO home with my husband, two children, dog, and cat. I love to walk, talk, and share stories. Thanks for being here!

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“You show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3).

My son’s eyes light up, and his arms zoom up and down with energy. “In my city, I’m going to build skyscrapers as tall as me,” he says, Legos in hand. “And a zip line that goes across my room.”

Another day he regales me with “I’m going to build a robot that will clean everything for you. It’ll have hands and feet and can vacuum and clean up my room.”

I listen and marvel at his imagination, his creativity and his ability to believe that what he dreams can come true. Whether it’s something he reads in a book or watches on TV, he believes he can do it. He tells me his plans, and then he gets to work.

Then I wonder: When did I stop believing in my dreams? When did I lose the spark of imagination that allowed me to feel that my dreams were within reach? Maybe the change came with the exhaustion of raising kids, the bombardment of picture-perfect scenes from social media, the pressure of perfectionism, feeling too young or feeling too old.

Whatever it is, on any given day, I seem to have lost the ability to believe anything is possible. Maybe you have too. Maybe you have a dream that’s tucked away in a closet or buried under the dishes or piles of unopened mail.

This Advent season, perhaps it’s time to unearth your dreams and listen to the song of your heart. Advent invites us to sit and wait, to ponder and reflect. As we light candles each night, may we see the light dancing. May we take to heart Elizabeth’s words, “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). May we hear as ours Mary’s words, “Here I am” (Luke 1:38).

Maybe we could all use a bit of my son’s confidence. We may all need the reminder that God created us good and holy. That Emmanuel, God with us, this Advent and Christmas season gives us the courage and hope to dream big, for ourselves and for the world.

// I wrote this for my monthly column, Growing Together, for Living Lutheran. Click on the link to read more including some practices and prayers for this Advent season.

Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes. Look up, your redemption is drawing near. Something different from what you see daily will happen. Just be aware, be watchful, wait just another short moment. Wait and something quite new will break over you: God will come.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In the Manger

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