Sailboats and Dreams
words by Coach Merlinn
If you didn’t know already, Coach Brendan is my husband. But I’m sure you already know that because I’m guessing you are either a parent, friend, and or family reading this!
When Coach Brendan and I first started dating, I found out that one of his dreams and passions included soccer overseas and missions. This was a big deal for me, because I too had similar dreams and passions, but more importantly, I wanted to share those same dreams and passions with my future husband. Some of you may already know our story. We dated for three months then were engaged for a further month, making it a total of four between meeting and getting married. Crazy! But not all God stories happen that fast. Even this trip is a testimony of God bringing to fruition an old dream: leading a team overseas with my husband.
It’s been two years waiting for this trip to finally come. But two years is nothing compared to forty years of Israel wandering in the wilderness waiting to enter the promised land… or the twenty-two years Joseph waited to see his brothers bow down before him… or the thirty years before Jesus even began his public ministry. This is a short list of examples, but the Bible has many cases of long waits before God answers prayers and dreams.
Since the spring of 2023, I’ve been dreaming big, but all those dreams will require patience, hard work, and trusting God with the steps to get there. Reflecting on the past year, I asked myself the question, “How many dreams have I dreamt about but never started? And why?”
I’ve dreamt about a lot of things: coaching college soccer, becoming a strength and conditioning coach, and (I kid you not) when I was in 5th grade, I wanted to be a hairstylist. But what has stopped me from pursuing these ambitions? It’s been a combination of things: fear of failure, lack of natural ability, the realization that accomplishing any of these things would take hard work and naturally, a lot of time.
Consider this: the pictures and videos we see of success on social media are only snapshots of the final moments. We rarely see the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get someone where they are today. I’m reminded of a lyric from the song “These Things Take Time” by Sanctus Real:
And I’m wondering why
Sometimes the truth ain’t easy to find
I want to know all the answers
But I’m learning that these things take time
Yeah, these things take time.
It’s great to have dreams or imagine what could be, but the reality is that the time and way in which things happen require trusting God in the process. I remember one time the Holy Spirit giving me this beautiful picture of a turn handle on a sailboat and someone turning it around and around. Then I heard the words, “You’ve got to do the work in order to catch the wind.” It takes work to sail a sailboat, and once you have the direction you want to go and have a purpose in mind, then do the work, and catch the wind! You don’t just turn the handle once and it’s smooth sailing, actually it’s navigating storms, capsizing and getting back up again, and enjoying those perfect sunsets.
What are you dreaming about? What step can you take today to get one step closer to your dream? Are you willing to get your hands dirty? Sweat a little bit? Take ownership of your dream and partner with God to make it happen? There is no guarantee it will be successful, but God will be with you through it, and he will do something in you in the process. That’s what I am expecting him to do in my own life over the course of these next ten days.
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