Dream Deferred

When we moved into our current home ten years ago, it was always our plan to plant a Valencia orange tree. As a kid, my family juiced oranges every winter, and once you’ve had true fresh squeezed juice, store bought jugs just won’t do the trick anymore. 

We initially put off purchasing a tree because of the expense. At the time, $100 just seemed too extravagant when we had so many other things to fix up around our new home. With the passage of time we rarely thought about our initial plan. Occasionally one of us would say, “Remember when we wanted to plant an orange tree? Do you still want to do that?” It was a beautiful thought, and then nothing would happen because of the busyness of life.

After putting it off for 9 years, we finally made good on our dream, bought a baby orange tree, and planted it in one of the corners of our back yard. Even in its young age, our tree has produced 8 beautiful oranges, 1 of which is close to harvesting. 

Last night, as Brent and I talked about our dreams and what this next season will hold for us, the orange tree became the topic of conversation. That’s when I said, “Imagine if we had planted that orange tree 10 years ago when we said we would. That thing would be huge and full of fruit.”

We do that in our lives, though, don’t we? Defer our dreams. Wait until the circumstances are right. Wait until we are qualified. Wait until the dream actually seems like a possibility. We guard, we protect, we procrastinate.

In his poem “Dream Deferred,” Langston Hughes paints a powerful picture of what happens to our dreams when we put them off. 

The imagery is pretty gross. But that last line is so poignant. When something explodes, it ceases to exist. In fact, there are people in close proximity who might become collateral damage from us not walking into the dreams God has placed in our hearts and the destiny he is calling us to.

It makes me shudder to think how many people in their old age will live with regret because they deferred their dreams for so long that they eventually ceased to exist. That they settled for “life as usual” because it is the easiest thing to do. 

In fact, I have a dream that I have put off for 8 years now just because it felt like I wasn’t in the right season, or I didn’t have the ability, or there was never enough time. I played around with it like it was a toy, but never took it seriously. And I wonder where I would be in achieving those dreams if I had consistently put one foot in front of the other, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I’m excited that God recently revived this dream inside of me, but I also wonder where my “tree” would be today if I hadn’t put it off. 

Most of the time, God given dreams and declarations in our lives are years in the making. Promises he gives us will take time to come to fulfillment. In fact, I don’t put much stock in “overnight success.” If we have a dream, it will take time, but it will also take consistent effort on our part as well.

So whatever the dream, whatever the goal, put one foot in front of the other. You don’t have to know how it all ends, but if you will figure out what your most immediate “next step” is and consistently put one foot in front of the other, you won’t find yourself 10 years in the future standing in the exact same place, a dried up raisin in your hands.