“Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.” - Marsha Norman
Gracie and I, along with our friend, Ms. Georgia, finally got out to see the Pixar movie, "Up" this afternoon.
Essentially, it is a movie about dreams. Carl, an elderly man, has a fossilized dream that he shared with his life-long love, Elle. Russell, a little Wilderness Explorer Scout, has a fantasized dream about finishing his last club badge - and how it will make his father notice him again. Charles Muntz, a long forgotten explorer thought to be a fraud, has a vengeful dream to vindicate his reputation. Dug, an adorable pup, has a dream of just being loved by a faithful master.
That's a lot of dreaming.
Have you ever had that experience where you have had a great dream only to awaken before you were ready? You lie there in those moments between wakefulness and sleep and try to recapture what was there. You hate to let yourself fully awaken to the new morning because you're just not ready to leave that dream behind in the dark night. That is what has happened to our hero, Carl, in this movie. Life was good to Carl...he married his true love and together they dreamed of travel and adventure and all they would do and see. But the realities of life get in the way of dreams, don't they? Busted tires and home repairs drain travel funds. We find ourselves old and gray and without the adventures we had promised we would have. And just when we finally get to that point when we can buy those tickets to South America...well, something happens that finally kills the dream completely.
Susan Boyle of Britain's Got Talent recently reminded us of the great lyrics from the musical Les Miserables.
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time...
Then it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time...
Then it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
I thought of that song while watching Carl in the movie. As young people in America, we are consistently told to follow our dreams, to dream big, to never let go of our dreams. In this movie, we see another side. As great as "dreaming big" truly is, sometimes our dreams can sidetrack us from an even greater design for our lives. As difficult as it may be, sometimes dreams do, indeed, die.
In this movie, I saw a dreamer disappointed, disenchanted, disgruntled and dissatisfied. A dreamer betrayed by the harsh realities of life. Much like Fantine, of Les Miserables, "life has killed the dream" he dreamed. So what now? What do we do when the realities of life kill our dreams?
We can, like Carl, decide to see them fulfilled no matter the cost, no matter the danger...no matter who we have to hurt in the process. Mid-movie we see Carl mourning an unfulfilled dream. Then later, through much determination and hard work, we see him finally achieve the dream. He moves that house right where the dream said it should be and then finds that while some dreams are unfulfilled... some are just unfulfilling.
Ray Boltz sang "I've had visions and I've had dreams. I've even held them in my hands. But I never knew they could slip right through like they were only grains of sand." Some dreams must be buried in those grains of sand...and new dreams and adventures begun.
If dreams are truly "illustrations from the book our soul is writing" sometimes we must be willing to let one chapter close and find the courage to start another.
"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." C.S. Lewis
In this movie, I saw a dreamer disappointed, disenchanted, disgruntled and dissatisfied. A dreamer betrayed by the harsh realities of life. Much like Fantine, of Les Miserables, "life has killed the dream" he dreamed. So what now? What do we do when the realities of life kill our dreams?
We can, like Carl, decide to see them fulfilled no matter the cost, no matter the danger...no matter who we have to hurt in the process. Mid-movie we see Carl mourning an unfulfilled dream. Then later, through much determination and hard work, we see him finally achieve the dream. He moves that house right where the dream said it should be and then finds that while some dreams are unfulfilled... some are just unfulfilling.
Ray Boltz sang "I've had visions and I've had dreams. I've even held them in my hands. But I never knew they could slip right through like they were only grains of sand." Some dreams must be buried in those grains of sand...and new dreams and adventures begun.
If dreams are truly "illustrations from the book our soul is writing" sometimes we must be willing to let one chapter close and find the courage to start another.
"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." C.S. Lewis
