Keep Dreaming!

Oh boy, I am so on fire this week about all the learning and

principles taught. There was lots of items shared about finding

one’s calling in life, bucket lists, stars, and of course last

lectures. This has been an interesting week because of life events and how they match up with what we are learning. It is like the Lord plans it that way! In this entry I want to focus on three main things I learned aside from the items learned in the “Last Lecture.” One thing that hit me was from the talk by Jeffery Thompson entitled

“What is your Calling in Life?” I was moved by his opening

question about our own callings in life. I also was hit hard by the

assignment to make our top 50 bucket list and the revising of old

bucket lists and the items I have completed. Finally I learned a lot from the last lecture and his fulfilling of

childhood dreams.  

What is your calling? 

In the “What is your calling in life?” talk Brother Thompson

began with his own story of discovering his life calling and then asked the soul serving question… “What is your calling in life?” Not only did that strike a cord but he backed it up with some of my favorite historic examples, that pulled an extra chord on the heartstrings of this Colorado Cowgirl. It made me think a lot all week about my “calling” in life. This was an excellent week for such pondering. I don’t know the exact moment I felt my “calling”  but it seems to have stuck for quite sometime.  

When I think about my “calling” I think of my sincere desire and

passion to teach, care, and bring joy to the lives of others. It is

through teaching, serving, strengthening, and bringing joy that I

honestly feel my own joy increase. I would say that is why I love my

job so much, I currently work as a para-educator with severe needs

teens at a local high school and I love every minute. I love being

with the kids and learning from them and their unique perspectives. My "calling" has spouted dreams as well. Ever since I was little I wanted to start a school. Now that I am older that dream has turned to the desire to start a facility dedicated to teaching others how to be more self reliant, a “how to fish” education. I honestly feel that education is what will bring true strength and joy in our lives. After all, aren’t we here with the purpose to learn? That is what I want to do! I want to truly teach and inspire people, and I have been told I am not too bad at it either. I just need to work hard on improving my skills and not doubting the gifts given by my Heavenly Father.  

Bucket list:  

(One of my favorite bucket list check off... Swimming with beluga whales).

I love bucket lists! I feel very passionately that we should all have a bucket list. We have to have experiences and we have to have goals if we want to grow and progress. A bucket list combines those

beautifully. It is goal list for creating experiences. During the

assignment to create a top 50 bucket list I felt the need to look at

past lists. It has been a while since I last reflected so it was fun

to see what I had put on in the past. I am overjoyed to report that I have knocked of more that I thought I had. As I looked through the

lists I recalled memories and things learned which was a precious

experience. 

The Last Lecture: 

Finally some thoughts on the last lecture. I love this so much, maybe because he worked with Disney, and it is very inspiring. I find it inspiring as he talked about his childhood and his dreams, and how he accomplished so many. I think he was able to accomplish so many because of a few different things. First off, his foundation. He talked about his family and his childhood and the love he had for both. He talked about how he was given freedom to dream and imagine, and write on the walls. Second thing, he worked. Dreams are nothing without some good hard work. We learn from the head dreamer Disney himself that these two principles of dreaming and hard work can go a long way.  

Reading about his childhood dreams coming true caused some great

reflection in my life (basically this was a week full of self

refection). I thought about my own childhood dreams and how many of

them have come true in some ways. I thought of my childhood dream to

be a Disney princess and live in Cinderella’s castle, no joke, in

third grade I dressed as a princess on career day. I never was chosen to actually portray a Disney princess but I basically worked and lived at Cinderella’s castle for two years and it was magical. I had many little girls look to me as a princess as I sent them on there way through “The Happiest Cruise that ever Sailed.” That for sure made

me feel like a princess. On a spiritual side, when I first went to

work at “It’s a Small World” It was my first time on my own and

the beginning of the adventure that would help my find more confidence in the knowledge that I was princess of my Heavenly Father. Another dream I had a child was to be an animal biologist. I would scout the backyard for critters and pretend I had my own TV show. I may never have been on television but I did work as an animal educator at both SeaWorld and Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a few years where people from all the world paid for my knowledge in tours and info. These are just a couple of the things I thought of as I reflected. What a comforting feeling to know that some of your dreams have come true and that there are always new ones for the future! I look forward to completing the rest of my childhood dreams, in one form or another. I also look forward to the new dreams that will unfold as I continue on this journey.  

It is such a blessing that we have a dreamer for a Heavenly Father. It is inherent for us to be dreamers. Without dreams there is no passion and no drive to move forward and progress. I firmly believe that dreams are a foundational part of our make up as children of God. Dreams are what propel us unto the future and remind us what we have to work for and look forward to. I will never forget the testimony I gained of dreaming when I worked at Disney World and watched the children enter in with their eyes and heart in pure wonder. Dreams are what keep us childlike. We know from the scriptures that children will inherit the kingdom of God and we cannot be like them unless we go out and dream a little! I hope that I will never lose my will and desire to dream!  

Keep dreaming and have a magical night!