Air Is What Dreams Are Made Of

            Air kind of gets a bad rap in our world. People suffering from faulty decision making are called Airheads. Someone who talks about things they are not qualified to talk about are full of Hot Air. Even people who aren’t rich enough to afford a musical instrument are forced to play an Air Guitar. We often think of air as ‘nothing’ even though it’s made of lots of different gasses.

            A fire needs air to burn. I learned in scouts that a fire needs fuel, heat, and air. Since I insist on talking about lawnmowers again, you need to know about these things. Every mower has an air filter because its motor needs air to mix with the fuel in order to burn. The burning moves the parts, and pretty soon the lawn looks great and it’s time for some lemonade.

            When we dream of something other people think is stupid, we’re thought to have our heads in the clouds. In my opinion, that’s a good thing. It’s all well and good to have a firm foundation on the ground, but the view isn’t as good if we never lift ourselves up from it. Only by going up into the air can we see the potential of ourselves and what we can do.

            C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors, once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” This was the man who wrote a children’s fantasy series when most people thought it would never sell. He may have died before he got the royalty checks for the movies, but he followed through with his dream and provided joy to many children around the world. The best part is, he was over fifty when he began writing them.

            Most of us have dreams that seem too hard to accomplish and so we never even try. Sometimes we share our dreams and are told that they are beyond our reach. Some may actually be so, like my dream to become king of some tropical island. Others are just too much for other people to understand; like worm farming. We have to follow our hearts, but also realize there are just some things we can’t do. Common sense needs to play a role in our lives, like a filter on a lawnmower. (Now that was a nice tie-in back to the lawnmower analogy!)

            We all need dreams to make our lives worth living. It can be as simple as having a goal to lose twenty pounds (Just Eat Real Food) or as large as becoming a senator in Washington DC. No matter what it is; grab it, work on it, and make it happen. Time isn’t as important as just beginning. Even if you never reach your goal, the journey it provides will make your life worth the effort.

           May you live all the days of your life. - Jonathan Swift