Live Your Dream
For two years, I was asked to contribute to a blog site, and for two years I responded like this: “I’d love to, and I will…when I can figure out what to say.” But, I never did come up with something to say. To be more accurate, I never really started because I didn’t think what I had to share was good enough, and I was a little scared to put something out there that was less than perfect.
A couple months ago, I started going through journals from the time Rocking Bar H Ranch officially began. Right around this time 10 years ago marked many beginnings. In fact, on this morning, New Year’s Day of 2006, Keith and I headed east to Feddes Red Angus in Manhattan, Montana, where we picked up a trailer load of Red Angus mama cows that would become part of our original herd. Back to the journals – do you know what I realized? We had to start somewhere to turn the ranching dream into a reality. And that somewhere was far from the perfect situation.
Are we ever perfectly ready – perfectly prepared – to make our dreams happen? Nope. It’s the reason I never did follow through on a simple thing like writing for that blog. And it’s the reason those big, exciting plans we make for our lives often fade as we fall back into what’s familiar, comfortable and well, kind of boring. We wait for the perfect opportunity, but it rarely comes around.
There’s something about the start of a new year that prompts us to make a change.To begin new things. To look at our dreams and goals with fresh motivation. It’s why I waited until today for this post. And I just have this to say: Your great big dreams CAN come true.
I didn’t imagine when I was attempting to sketch up a brand late one night at the kitchen table that we would soon have “branding day” like a real-life ranch, and pastures full of red cows with a Rocking Bar H branded on their sides. I didn’t imagine that our young boys would help bring newborn calves into this world, knowing that those animals’ lives depended on them. I didn’t imagine that there was time or room for more friendships – and that those people would in turn become who the rest of our lives will be shared with. I didn’t imagine that ranch work would be as difficult, never-ending, and rewarding as it is, and that future generations of our family will be different because of it.
The big dreams that God places on our hearts are there for a reason, friends. He wants us to do what we love, what we’re good at, and what will best serve this world. Our dreams are no mistake. Our talents are no mistake. The only mistake is when we let them go to waste. Looking back at quite a few years worth of doing this ranch thing, I can see why God put that desire on Keith’s heart. Keith is good at ranching. Not just good…he’s great at it. He loves it. He teaches other people about it. His wife and boys are better off for being part of that journey. What if he had waited for the perfect time? We would have missed out on so much.
I hope on this New Year’s Day, you can find a little time to think about your dreams. To know that they’re closer to reality than you expect. I hope you’ll have the courage to begin making them happen. To start down the adventurous path full of new and exciting things.
Today is the perfect day to start living your dream.