When I was twelve years old, my mother encouraged me to learn to play the piano. As it was something of a family tradition, I agreed to start taking weekly piano lessons with our church’s pianist. I soon realised that piano playing wasn’t going to come naturally to me and that my thirty-minute practice sessions after school each afternoon were the longest thirty minutes in my day.

Somehow after a year of learning to play the piano, I convinced my mother that I was not going to be able to fulfill her dream that another generation in her family would be a proficient piano player. I was like a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. I was like David being dressed by King Saul in armour that didn’t fit his shape to prepare him to do battle with the giant Goliath.

How sad it is that we can go through life living out the dreams that other people have purposed for us, not realising that God created us uniquely to fulfill the wonderful dream for which He has shaped us.
It was David who wrote, “May the Lord give you the desire of your heart and all your plans (dreams) succeed.” Psalm 20:4
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires (dreams) of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
Perhaps the greatest discovery in my life was to gradually understand how God had uniquely shaped me to live out a dream that would result in a life that has been above and beyond anything that I could have achieved by playing the piano.
God’s SHAPE for me included:-

• SPIRITUAL GIFTS of leadership and teaching
• A HEART’S desire to equip the next generation
• ABILITIES to organise movements that would grow God’s kingdom
• A PERSONALITY that could inspire others and overcome obstacles, and persevere resiliently in the face of difficulties and opposition
• EXPERIENCES of life that connected me to great leaders who mentored me and modelled a life for me to live out.

What a wonderful discovery it is when we come to understand that God has created us with dreams and desires that he wants us to live out and pursue with faith and courage and perseverance knowing that it is always too soon to compromise. This is the Lord that would say to each of us, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Our potential is God’s gift to us; what we do with our potential is our gift to God.

P.S. My mother’s dream for me became a reality when I met and married my wife Sue, who is an excellent piano and keyboard player, and guitar player as well.