Faith and Purpose Support Resilience

Reflecting back to my early years as a young girl I remember having a mind that constantly fluttered with news ideas and dreams, without effort and most times without an off button. I also remember as I grew older and progressed through elementary, middle, and then high school, adults would often ask the age-old question…

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The very first time I remember being asked this question was at the tender age of four. My mother entered me into the town’s beauty pageant, against my will might I add, and as I stood there in a yellow frilly dress and big, poufy hair, I listened to all the other girls’ answers to this question. Most wanted to be teachers and mothers and by the time the judges made their way to me with the same question, without hesitation and quite a matter-of-fact tone, I told the judges exactly who I was going to be when I grew up.

“I’m going to be a veterinarian so I can save all the animals in the world and I’m going to be a hero so I can save all the people in the world.”

The judges looked upon me and looked at each other with their smiles and laughs and spoke about how adorable my response was. In watching the reactions of those judges my tender, four-year-old emotions set in as I comprehended their laughs and smiles as a way of mocking my dreams. I was too young to understand that circumstances of life have a way of making childhood dreams seem almost is if they were fairytales, nice stories, and mostly impossible.

As I write this passage, I am reminded of the story of a young boy who had his own set of childhood dreams that seemed a little too big and a little too outlandish to believe. Although, those who listened to his dreams weren’t smiling and laughing about how adorable they sounded. This young boys’ dreams didn’t score him points in a town pageant, but rather they set the course for him to be betrayed by his brothers, stripped of his garments of favor, and tossed in a pit.

This young dreamer I am speaking of is Joseph, a lad who had the favor of his father and the envy of his brothers.

Young Joseph was a dreamer, and, in his dreams, he dreamt of a time he would be in a position of leadership and his brothers would come and bow down to him. This didn’t quite sit well, considering he was the youngest and had already fueled a fire of jealousy within his siblings for the obvious favor he received from their father.

Before reading on, reflect upon an early childhood dream you had as a child.

How closely do your childhood dreams align with your current dreams?

I’ve always found it interesting to hear of others’ dreams from when they were children and learn how those dreams have faded away or adapted over time. Joseph’s dreams started when he was just a young boy and despite his dreams of being a leader, with his brothers bowing down to him, his journey took a much different path.

Young Joseph’s dreams landed him in a pit at the hands of his very brothers and then sold into the house of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, to live his days as a servant.

To this point in Joseph’s story, the dreams of his youth certainly didn’t look like they had a way of coming to fruition. He dreamt of being in a leadership position. He dreamt of his elder brothers humbling themselves and bowing to him in reverence. Instead, his life as a young and favored son came to a screeching halt and he found himself almost orphan-like, waking up and going to bed as a servant in a master’s home being the one to do the bowing.

Joseph’s story goes on to share that he served Potiphar so well in this new, unplanned position that he was eventually placed in charge of everything Potiphar had. Unfortunately, an unseemly circumstance and a lie told on him led him to another transition – this time to the prison. Joseph was most certainly at a place that seemed a far reach from his childhood dreams and I can only imagine how it might have felt to be ripped from the favor of his father’s arms by those who were to be entrusted most, thrown away into a pit, sold into slavery, wake up as a servant, lied upon and then thrown into prison at no fault of his own.

I imagine Joseph, sitting within the darkest part of that prison, looking around at the gloominess of his surroundings and thinking that life was just not supposed to look like that for him.

He was his father’s favorite.

He was happy and full of dreams for his future.

He, at one time, just knew that his life was going to be grand, even to the point of growing into a leader within his family.

I wonder if, in some way, we can relate to parts of Joseph’s story.

Perhaps we, at one time had some dreams and then life found a way to knock us into a pit or two and maybe even places in life where we felt like we were trapped or imprisoned.

In these places – the pit and the prison – most people would put aside their dreams simply to find a way to either survive or break free. I always questioned, when reading about Joseph, why he wasn’t angry and how he could have such a good attitude when life certainly didn’t seem so good to him.

I also wondered why he didn’t try to break free or rebel against his circumstances. I mean, after all, that type of reaction would be both natural and justified within these set of circumstances.

However, there are some very interesting parts about Joseph’s story that simply would not have happened had the pit and the prison never “interrupted” his dreams.

In prison, this young dreamer had the opportunity to explain what the dreams of two others in prison meant and his interpretations eventually led to the Pharaoh himself hearing of Joseph’s ability to decipher dreams.

This opened a door for Joseph to be removed from prison and placed as a servant in Pharaoh’s kingdom. Once again, in this new and unplanned position, he served so well that he was placed in charge of everything within that kingdom. In fact, he received such favor, he was placed second in command in all the land with only Pharaoh being above him in power.

Being placed in charge of all of Pharaoh’s kingdom certainly came in handy when famine came into all the land.

One day, in the midst of this famine, Joseph was fulfilling his duties within the kingdom when in walked a group of men desiring to purchase food as they and their family were suffering greatly and lacked what would be necessary to survive.

Joseph, looking at these men, recognized that his brothers stood in his midst and at his complete mercy.

Years had passed since the day the young Joseph they knew had been tossed in the pit. They had no way to recognize that the man in leadership within the kingdom they had sojourned to in need of food, was their brother, Joseph.

With Joseph’s position of leadership in Pharaoh’s Kingdom he was able to provide food to his brothers, his father, and all of his people.

Now, of course, many would say “If I were Joseph I wouldn’t have given them anything. I would have thrown them in prison.”

True, those feelings are definitely valid. However, in reading the whole story it is found that Joseph, in providing food to his brothers and his father as well as all the people of his original land, he was able to assure that his people survived a time of famine.

Why might this be important?

Well, because of Joseph’s interrupted dreams, an act of betrayal, a trip down into the pit, a position of slavery in Potiphar’s house, a false accusation and sentence to the inner prison, he was able to do so much more than stand while his brothers bowed to him.

He was able to preserve the bloodline of his people, which is the bloodline of Jesus – their Savior.

Oh, and his dream did come true.

Joseph’s story does tell of his brothers bowing to him as he reigned in a position of leadership. The dream just didn’t play out exactly as he, or anyone else, might have expected.

In speaking about dreams, specifically about Joseph’s dreams and the pit and prison he had to journey through to see his dreams fulfilled, I want to leave you with a question and encourage time and thought into the reflection.

You have your own set of dreams, and like Joseph, I’m sure your own set of personal pits and personal prisons.

How have these “interruptions” to your dreams led you to a place where your dreams not only have come true, but have transitioned into something more impactful than they would have been had you planned the path yourself?