Adjusted Dreams

 

When I was nineteen years old, I had the privilege of spending a month in London, England on a study tour and traveling around England as well as to Scotland and Wales. I remember riding London’s “tube” (subway system) all over the city and taking BritRail trains to many other locations in Great Britain. I probably walked a hundred miles in the thirty-some days I was living there, and much of what I did was by myself on my own. 

A couple of months after I returned home, I met my future husband and shared all of my experiences with him. I was anxious to actually share these places with my new love, and soon after we began dating we started talking about marriage and the dream of someday going to Great Britain and possibly Ireland together. As idealistic young college students, we hoped this future trip would take place much sooner than it did. Last week, my husband and I returned from a nineteen day trip to Scotland and Ireland celebrating our 45^th wedding anniversary. It took a long time to take our dream trip, but we finally made it!

But this was not the trip we had originally envisioned when we were young. Unforeseen physical disabilities and food/eating issues that have modified our lifestyle as we have aged dictated that our trip would also need to be modified from our original youthful plans. Walking would need to be more limited, and there would be no trains or subways this time around. We let someone else help us see these countries via tour buses with pre-planned stops. We scheduled a few down days into our agenda when we were on our own for a few days in each country. In more ways than one, we are not the same people that we were when we married so many years ago. 

But we discovered that we could still enjoy this long-awaited trip, and we could still celebrate our blessings. And with an uncertain future (which is always true but more real as we age), we are grateful that we chose to “seize the day” and take this trip now instead of waiting for retirement or our golden anniversary. Only God knows what we will still be able to physically do in the years ahead, and we are very thankful for the life he has allowed us to share so far. 

Let me encourage you to seize the day in your own life – not in the sense of living frivolously and carelessly in the pursuit of pleasure, but in the sense of seizing opportunities and trusting God for the future. You don’t have to travel if that’s not your thing; but, if you are fortunate as we are to still have your spouse, take every chance you get to experience life together – whatever that looks like for you. Celebrate the goodness of God together and appreciate every minute as you share each day. Dreams may change over time, but adjusted dreams can still bring a lot of joy.