I have been reading through the book of Proverbs. One thing I have noticed about this delightful book of wisdom is that every time I read it, different themes and verses stand out to me. Perhaps it is a word of wisdom itself that we can only learn the things we are ready to learn. As I was reading in the morning, I came across this verse: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).

Wow, could there be a more appropriate verse for this season of life we are all in together? Our dreams have been put on hold. Conferences postponed, admission denied, reunions rendered virtual for the foreseeable future. We all had plans in March that seem so foreign to us now. And even as we have learned to improvise, adapt, and overcome, there are dreams inside us that leave a heaviness in our hearts.

God has created us with desires. They are not contrary to our nature! From childhood, we yearn for love, security, joy, and accomplishment. Hope itself is a desire.

Is it possible that we are being invited into a season of reorienting our desires? While we mourn lost dreams, we also have the opportunity to discover new ones.

Harlem

BY LANGSTON HUGHES

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes, “Harlem” from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.