A Dream Deferred
By Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
I went to Langston Hughes Middle School and I have always liked this poem. I say “like” but perhaps I mean I recognize its truth and appreciate the commentary it presents. The subject of dreams is well and good and hopeful but when a dream is deferred? Oh no. Enter the pain and the agony and the blood sweat and tears. The groans. The sleepless nights. The monotony of stagnant circumstances. This is the dying process of a dream.
I believe that there is proper lifecycle to dreams and at some point that process includes death. And I think part of that death – a big part – occurs in us necessarily, in order for us to walk out the fulfillment of the dream with success. In my ongoing walk with God that has of late resembled more of a wrestling match than a walk, our conversations daily include the question of time. When are you going to do this Lord? My litany of dreams, all deferred – dead or dying – no life support, no resuscitation. What am I left with?
Years of preparation. Dreams that have come true in the past. Past desires fulfilled. Prayers answered. Situations turned around. The fingerprints of God on previous seasons. The stories from friends who are living their dreams. All these markers, very real indeed, reminding me to not give up.
In Ecclesiastes Solomon writes there is an appointed time for everything. An “Appointed Time?” Appointed by who? Well, it’s definitely not me. The appointed time is set by God, the creator of time:
1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
Surely we prefer the times of birth, planting, healing, building, laughing, dancing, peace, etc! But life has times of both war and peace. And they are APPOINTED times.
The lifecycle of a dream includes deferment. It includes death. And partial death of the dreamer to a large extent. The good news is that these are appointed times. Scheduled. Yet when you are in a time of tearing down, uprooting, weeping, mourning, death, war, etc. you long for an alarm to ring and rouse you out of the nightmare that torments your weary shell-shocked soul.
So what do you do when your dreams are deferred? You keep going. It is that simple. You do the next thing. Well what is that? I don’t know. I can’t tell you.
But what I can say is to stop and listen. Get quiet. Ask the question of the one who appoints the time. “God, what is the next thing?”
Listen and do what He says. And then ask again. Eventually the times will change. The dream deferred may dry up, run, sag or explode. It may die. And so might you in the process. This is not a bad thing. More importantly, this is a biblical thing. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “I die daily.”
Do you have deferred dreams? Let them die. But let them die at the foot of the cross. God specializes in resurrection.
A Prayer For Deferred Dreams
God I thank you for my dreams. Specifically I thank you for the dream of (__________________). I lay it down at the foot of the cross. I trust you with this dream. Breathe life into it as you see fit, at the appointed time. Open my eyes to see how you are working even today to fulfill my dreams and purpose. In Jesus name Amen!