Walk the Walk

 

Take the Step

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps—we must step up the stairs.”

Vance Havner

          There is an old cliché that states, “it’s not enough to talk the talk, you must also walk the walk.” When we keep our dreams, desires, hopes and needs bottled up inside, and never actually put them into practice, they become dormant and eventually they die. Having a deep dream all your life that is never fulfilled is like having a miscarriage; your heart and soul grieve that loss. It’s possible to revise that pain by realizing that it is, or was, a choice.

          Sometimes, it’s impossible to follow your dreams. Sometimes fate intervenes; other necessities take priority, and dreams must be deferred. Sometimes so much time passes and so many necessary passages present themselves, that our dreams become a distant memory. Over the course of a lifetime, these deferments stack up and we feel regret. When our hands are tied in following our dreams, we may want to take stock of what they are and how important they are to our overall well-being. Another option is to change the dream.

          Part of the admonition of walk your walk, or “step up the stairs” is taking responsibility for the choices you’ve made—realizing that every time fate intervened in your plans, you had a choice—stay or go. Every fork in the road offers a choice—left or right. We often feel as though circumstances are thrust upon us, that we had no choice, but that belief is in error. We always have a choice.

          Most of the time, we follow the path of least resistance. I’m speaking for myself here—perhaps you are different. We go along to keep the peace and so that we do not disappoint others or mess up their life plan. We defer our own dreams to serve theirs. That’s a choice. For instance, several times over the course of my lifetime, I was involved in something important to me—finishing college, working at a job that was especially interesting—and when my husband made choices for himself, I left what I was doing and went with him. I know that this is the usual agreement in marriage, but it costs the one who acquiesces. I was 33 before I finished college. However, I do not blame the men I was married to because the one who made those choices was me. I could have stayed and finished school, and I could have stayed in the job I loved, but I chose to go. I can let the regret go now because I know it was my choice.

          We can do a lot of psychological housekeeping by realizing that our choices belong to us. If we deferred a dream, that was our choice. If there is still a burning desire to accomplish that dream, and we can do that, we should “walk the walk.” If that dream is no longer possible, let it go. Don’t carry a dead dream inside your body-mind. It becomes poison.

          Follow your dreams, or you bliss, or not. Whatever choices you make will bring new choices, and they all belong to you. When you make choices that advance the work of your soul, all the powers of the Creator get behind you, helping you and guiding you. Ask, pray, and then step up the stairs.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane