Our youngest, Scott, was seriously sad when he didn’t get a speaking role in the Christmas-in-August (because-November-is-crazy) school concert.

He cried heartbroken, disappointed tears. Lots of them.

So my mom-lecture went something like –

I’m so very sorry you’re so very disappointed.

Let’s give this dream to Jesus, and see what He does. If you don’t get a role this time – maybe next time?

In the meantime, let your teacher know you’re keen. If someone drops out, maybe you’ll get picked. But you can’t just *hope* to get picked. They need to know you’re keen. One day when you’re big, you won’t always get the job you apply for, but you *definitely* won’t get the job if you never apply. They need to know you’re keen. Then, what will be will be, and we can trust God that what will be is the best.

We prayed.

He asked if I could rather speak to his teacher, for him?

Nope, said me, digging in my anti-helicopter-parenting heels so they wouldn’t slip out from under me and have me running to fight his battle.

Next day, he told his lovely teacher that he would be totally stoked to say some words on stage, should there still be any up for grabs. It cost him a lot of brave. Especially because the answer was still No. He’d be singing in the chorus with his class.

Then a week or so before the concert, a speaking-part-kid got sick. (Which is not cool.) But what was cool is that Scott’s name was at the top of the Kids Who Are Keen List.

And he got picked.

He got to say *one whole glorious line*! It went like this:

We even set an extra place for Him at the table.

He gave a stellar delivery. Accurately assessing his performance with unbiased parental realism, I thought proudly,

Today, Hatfield Christian School. Tomorrow, Broadway.

It was a line about the cultural tradition of symbolically laying a place at the Christmas table for the Christ child.

I don’t think it was coincidence that our boy was given that exact line. A line about welcoming Jesus into our reality and including Him in our everything. Our eating and drinking. Our coming and going. Our current reality and our dreams of the future.

I’m hoping the lesson stuck: that we live in the tension of working as if it’s all up to us – taking responsibility for our lives – and praying as if it’s all up to God – resting in His mercy.

You can’t always wait to be picked because sometimes you need to stick up your hand and let people know you’re keen. Will you get rejected? Probably. Often. Even mostly. That’s actually really ok.

Because in the meantime – in your eating and drinking and coming and going – you can give your big and small dreams to Jesus, and He will keep them very safe indeed until it’s time for those dreams to come true – His way, His time.

I’m hoping you, me and Scott realize that if our dreams don’t come true – it’s only because the dreams we’ve thought up don’t align with God’s best dreams for us. And that if we’re seeking the Dream-Giver more than the dreams, He’ll give our hearts the inside track, stirring in us something bigger and better than our own ideas – something of His glory, not ours.

. . .

Happy weekend, friend!

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