Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
Family, Parenting and Religion
Visions/Dreams That You Must Have For Your Children

Visions/Dreams That You Must Have For Your Children

Last updated on: January 17, 2024 at 6:02 pm by Sabina Tagore Immanuel

0 Comments

Visions/Dreams That You Must Have For Your Children 2024-01-17T18:02:50+05:30 Sabina Tagore Immanuel

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vision and Dream

Dream and Vision | Unsplash

An important idea that is touted today is that one must have dreams or visions, and work to fulfill them.

Basic difference between visions and dreams is that the former occur when awake, while the latter happens when asleep. According to sources, dreams go unplanned and remain unreal, and visions are real ideas with concrete applications. Again, visions and dreams are different things, since vision is usually a very specific idea of what you want to accomplish in life, whereas a dream is a more general goal. Both can be used to motivate you and keep you focused on your path of achieving something great.

Individuals and corporations or organizations do need dreams and visions, which they promote as statements and goals. In the world of business and work, having a clear vision is absolutely critical, as it is an extremely powerful tool to achieve the results you want. Moreover, those working in a company or under a management or a leader, would like to know where they are being led or what is the target to be achieved.

Visions are thought to be a key trait of or for leadership, and the Bible inherently declares that without vision people perish, Prov 29:14. In Scripture, God has promised that when the Holy Spirit is poured on people, they will have dreams and visions.

It is not just individuals, companies and businesses that need visions and dreams to fill their life and order their livelihood. Families and churches need them too, for having a focus is very important in raising them both. If you don’t know where you are going and where you want to go, life will be haphazard, and your days wasted. More so, if your dream is to build a good family or grow a proper church!

Family Focus

Family Dream or Vision | Unsplash

Having visions and dreams is one thing, but having the right ones is another thing. The appropriate dreams or vision is always very crucial, more so when nurturing and rearing a family. A wrong aim or desire can defeat or destroy what we seek to achieve in our kids’ life and our family’s future.

Most parents impose their own dreams on their children, both when they have and haven’t achieved them. 0r, are shortsighted about the expanse or impact of their vision. Ninety percent of parents think only short term, just to the extent of their progeny having an easy or comfortable life, nothing more and nothing else.

Dreams and visions for family must be long term and long lasting. In fact, they should be a continuum and a constant. For this to be so, our thinking should be generational, collective and communal, rather than individual or individualistic. Dreams that do not go beyond one generation will fall and utterly fail, since they don’t measure up to the real thing, and often, unachievable too. Moreover, they may quite well end up creating divisions and dissensions since they deal with temporal or temporary things alone. Dreams and visions that relate to mundane or earthly wealth, or to leave behind a comfortable living for our children is very limited and limiting too!

What Should be the Dreams and Visions for our Children?

Dream or Vision for Children | Freepik

Our thought for our children should be about them inheriting something of lasting value that goes on for generations, and doesn’t die with us. Our dreams for them should incorporate an aspect of character and respect for family ties. Our aspirations for them should be to teach them respect for relationships, and promote harmony with others, as much as possible. Our vision for them should be to inculcate work ethic, industriousness, and desire to do what they can with what they have. Our expectations for them should be around who they are meant to be and what they ought to be, nothing more and nothing less.

Our concern for them should extend to investing in them, giving time to discover who they are, what they are endowed with. Then, we must help them identify their prime strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to handlenboth well. Our aspiration for them should be to enhance their abilities, cause them to step out in generosity towards others, especially those who don’t enjoy the privileges they have. In general, they must be accepting of others inabilities and appreciative of their abilities. Our hope for them should be to not become entitled or demanding, but be thankful for the many blessings and riches they have.

It should be our prime intention to guide them to accept their weaknesses, not give excuses for their misdemeanors, but work to overcome their shortcomings. It would be our greatest task to give them a sense of identity, rooting them in their past, assimilating it into their present, and work towards their future, without cribbing about the challenges they face. It would be our lasting contribution to help them be loyal and thankful, in a world that is crooked and cunning, selfish and self-obsessed, and to be salt of the earth and light of the nations.

Carrying on the Family Dream or Vision

Community Comfort | Unsplash

All these would not be possible for them if we do not lay a foundation of faith and trust in God, setting an example for them, by word and in deed. It would be our biggest work on earth if we can help them not blindly or gullibly accept everything they know through the internet, but question sanely and sensibly, think through issues before making wise choices. It would be a substantial contribution on our part if we would enable to have a framework of philosophy, based on the Word of God and founded on a relationship with Christ through His Holy Spirit.

It would our significant input to surround them with a community of faith, come in contact with reliable and faithful witnesses, and develop accountable relationships with those we have garnered as friends and family in the Body of Christ. If we raise them without a scaffolding of other people, who are similar to us in their dreams and visions, then we will leave them behind crippled and helpless. If we haven’t cultivated meaningful relationships with like-minded, solid and stable people of God, who can step in to the place we have vacated, we haven’t equipped them well. If we haven’t taught them the plans and purposes God has for them, this world, and solidly set them to be co-workers with Him, we will leave a vacuum behind that will soon get filled by something else.

If we have been faithful to teach them what is of lasting value, what goes beyond this life, what is of eternal importance, and what heaven values, we would have endowed them with an enduring legacy that can be passed down for generations.

We would have rooted them solidly on the rock, with head in the heavens and their feet firm on the ground, with their vision on the horizon, and with the dream to make their present count for all times!

Contemplative

Family, Parenting and Religion

Education and Religion

Previous Post

November 10, 2023

The Golden Thread of Loyalty