I wonder how many of us have spent time in airport departure lounges dreaming of what is next. Whether going on holiday or working, outbound or returning home the world of the airport is like nothing else in so far as we are bound by some of the tightest security we will ever find in ordinary civilian life.
The second verse of Fred Kaan’s hymn ‘The love of God is broad like beach and meadow’ continues:
We long for freedom where our truest being
is given hope and courage to unfold.
We seek in freedom space and scope for dreaming,
and look for ground where trees and plants can grow.
The dreaming that comes to my mind when I read these words are a long way from the dreams of trips to see different places or cultures that may be inspired by the prospect of a flight to a different country. This is a bigger freedom that lets us look into the deepest recesses of our minds.
We may often associate buried thoughts with hurt and pain, but pleasure and potential can be trussed up too. It takes time to be different and new. It takes courage to express difference. It takes persistence to work out original thought. It takes strength to project the real individual over the usual presentation of conformity that life demands. It may need a new start in new ground to avoid the rutted soil of old ways.
Forty years ago, this autumn, as a family, we moved to Suffolk. Without that move I would always have been Tom Glasse’s grandson but a fresh place allowed me to be Just William! Whether I took all that the opportunity presented is not as important as the reflection that we all need to become ourselves. It is not as easy as it sounds and if I were to go back to 1981, I wonder what I would do differently and who I would become if I could apply the confidence of a 61-year-old.
Dreaming again.
A prayer.
Lord God, may your Spirit within us free us to be and give our best whenever need and opportunity arise. May our dreams become reality and not remain forever hidden in the jungle of conformity and tradition. Show us how, in you, our biggest dreams are brought to life in your new life because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.