Chasing dreams

From what I hear, being a parent is really awesome and rewarding, despite the hard work it requires to raise a small human being.  That is great, and I am indeed happy for you.  I'd guess maybe over half of people say that they would like to get married and have children, and in that case, that dream is an easier one to fulfill than others.

Yet, what if that's not what you're cut out to do?  Students especially struggle with this expectancy other adults in the "real world" impose.  In the meantime, or indefinitely, you have to figure out:  in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, what category am I in?  If I'm not a wife, does this actually apply to me?  Am I sinning in not doing what everyone else is doing?  Is it wrong because it appears ineffective to the world on a large scale?

If you ask anyone what they wish they could do, including people who have started a family and keep up a very involved life, they tend to present many of the same dreams.

I wish I would have stayed in school and gotten another  degree.  I would love to know more about ___.

I wish I would have taken piano when I was growing up.  Maybe when I have the time, I'll go back to it.

I wonder what it's like to sing in a choir...I'd do that if I didn't have to work so early.

Oh, I used to love running!  Someday I'd like to try a race.  I just don't have the time.

If I had a day to myself, I'd totally drive up there and check it out!  I've heard a lot of great things from people who have been there.

I should have learned that language.  It would have helped me so much now!

I want to read that book someday!  That's on my to-do list.

Sometime I want to know more about (this thing in the Bible).  I just don't know where to look...you'd probably have to take a class about this somewhere.

So, let's just pretend that someone has gone after her dreams, and even done all of these things.  What if learning is in itself a reward?  What if everything she's chasing is a way to say thank-you to God for something that happened a long time ago, that hardly anyone saw?  Maybe He has provided those very things for a reason.  "To whom much is given..."

"For all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him.  This is most certainly true!" -Small Catechism, Explanation to the First Article of the Creed.