What are your dreams? And when is the last time someone asked you that? Have you even asked yourself that question?

There is something about summer time that invites us to dream. However, I gotta say…we adults aren’t the best dreamers. Children are way better at dreaming. So maybe it was childhood that set up summer as the season for dreaming….barefoot wandering around the neighborhood without a school day’s agenda…relying on imagination for entertainment. Summer always brings me a sense of whimsy and calls out to my childlike wonderment. Summer makes space for me to dream dreams for this one wild and free life I get to live. (God Bless America! 🇺🇸)

This series of art, “Dream Catching”, it visually looks like my summer scenery. Lately, I have been spending a lot of time wading around in my “backyard” on Mobile Bay, and I am inspired by the joy and delight I discover in these sights and experiences. My newest set of paintings is called the Eden Water collection, and I’ll tell you why. As I explored the waters north of the bay and returned home to paint the imagery, I learned that the word Eden means “delight”. And delight is what I find in my watery neck of the woods. Then, as I looked to Psalm 37:4, I was awakened to a truth about dreams and our delights.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

A Delight is defined by the dictionary as a “great pleasure”.

When I enjoy the very life I have today, here beside this bay; when I delight (take great pleasure) in the wonders of my natural surroundings and honor them with my art, I am celebrating this beautiful creation! Anytime we celebrate something or someone we are showing our gratitude. And when we show gratitude we find ourselves experiencing joy, a sweet and simple sense of joy. That’s because gratitude leads us to joy… and so what then comes after joy? If delight leads to celebration and celebration leads to gratitude and gratitude leads to joy…what does joy lead to?

Joy, the sweet and simple kind, leads us to our dreams!

To experience joy in the here and now, is to stand at the edge of the sea of dreams and peer in on the deep desires of the heart. Finding delight, celebration and joy seems to bring us closer to our heart’s desires. Like shining a beam of light deep down into the deep waters, our pleasant experiences seem to make us more aware of our heart’s deepest hopes. It’s like we forget what they even look like until we get closer to them. And, I believe these deep dreams of ours are anchored to our life’s purpose. Why else would we all have different joys? Why else do we all have different dreams if not to lead us to the unique plans for our lives?

With this closer look at dreams, I began to see that my heart’s desires reflect the very plans God has created for my life. And now I can see it’s a loop; a cycle of companionship, a delightful partnership, just the way he planned in Eden. We delight in his presence and he in ours. When we celebrate his gifts at the surface, he shows us something deeper.

It’s like a day at the beach with my kids. I’ve spent all morning making sammies and packing the cooler and the beach bag and the towels and the toys, cover everyone in sunscreen, and haul it all down, set it up, and when I finally plop down in my sandy chair, here they come with their plans to go to the pool. And I shake my head no and smile— not because I don’t want to give them the desires of their precious little hearts— it’s because they haven’t yet enjoyed the fruits of my labor!! I tell them to just be where we are for now; let’s enjoy what we have here and now, together!…and later we will go to the pool. This is the day I have worked hard to give to you. Let’s enjoy it gratefully. (except I’ll probably say “damnit!!” under my breath somewhere in there.)

When we delightfully celebrate now, we show gratitude, and our gratefulness gives us joy—but even better than that—our delight gives joy to the one who provided the opportunity. Our joy is rooted in our recognition of the One who made it all possible… the Maker of everything from Heaven to Earth, from me to you. And this is how a fulfilling life starts in this delightful Companionship. A relationship cannot thrive without consideration and gratitude; like a marriage cannot thrive unless two people truly delight in each others company.

The one who dreamed a dream for your life has cast his wild ideas into the sea of your heart, and he wants nothing more than to see you hook those dreams and reel them into your life. He wants to give you the desires of your heart because they are connected to the desires of his. Delight yourself in the presence of that huge Love.

There will always be something we don’t have; the bright blue pool will constantly try to lure us away from our delightftul day at the beach. That is how comparison thieves away our joy. Since we know that to be true, we can believe and trust that gratitude can truly give us joy. And, for that matter, we can believe and trust that dreams are not just for children. Grown ups are dreamers, too. So, what are your dreams? What are your heart’s desires? If that question still leaves you feeling immature and uncertain, follow the trail to your simple joys, to the places and spaces that delight your soul; there, my friend, you will find a sea of wild dreams… just waiting to be caught.