Start with a Little Dream
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams
- Eleanor Roosevelt
I was born to be a dreamer and I dreamed so much. Dreaming is the main theme of my life; my dreams started pretty small, but they are the driving force to live out each day with passion, meaning, and significance. Dreams are the rainbows of my life; dreams are the warp and woof of my life, and they fill every moment, day, week, month, and year. Dreams lead me to the lands full of splendors and adventures.
Growing up in a small village in China where poverty was evident - no milk, no bread, and no meat, I even ate wild vegetables and tree leaves. However, I was rich in dreams. The beauty of nature: the twinkling stars, the silvery moonlight, the radiant sunrise, and the golden sunset brought me so many dreams and beautiful imaginations. As a little girl, every year I dreamed of having a shirt with flowery patterns, especially during the New Year. I could not dare to ask because I knew my parents had no money, but that did not stop me from dreaming. I closed my eyes and pictured putting on a silky flowery shirt day after day. One summer, when I turned 12 years old, my father brought a piece of silk fabric home. My mother turned it into a beautiful shirt; I was so excited when I put it on and immediately ran out to show it to my friends. I danced and danced in the yard under the blue sky, the winds were playing music, and the leaves on the trees were clapping their hands. They all joined me for the celebration of the new shirt.
One day, I heard there was a country called America, and I was told America was on the other side of the world. I said, “Oh, it is under my feet.” I dreamed of traveling through a tunnel under the earth and going to the other side and touching the heels of a giant American…
After I studied science, the mysteries of nature attracted me more - why the moon wanes and waxes each month, how days and nights are formed. I dreamed of becoming a scientist like Albert Einstein. While I was in high school, my mother got so sick even the doctors could not help. Later my best friend’s father died of cancer and it made me dream of becoming a doctor. However, when I realized that there were more serious issues in society, I believed that it would be more valuable to become an author - to inspire and motivate others to do great things. Unfortunately for whatever reasons, I ended up studying mathematics that I never dreamed of before.
Have my dreams been shattered? I believed so at some point. Before I graduated college, I picked up one dream from my childhood, coming to America for advanced studies. But I did not come here through a tunnel under the earth as I once dreamed, instead I flew to this country in the air. I studied mathematics in graduate school and computer science while I was doing a full time job. So far I have been working in Analytics (Data Science) for about 20 years. During those years, many big things happened in my life and they were both good and bad. After I came to America, the first big thing that happened was revolutionary because it turned my morals and values upside down. From a person who did not believe in anything, I became a person of faith, I believed there is a God who started everything, my life and my dreams.
Though I had many dreams in my childhood, I did not dream of eating chocolate because I didn't know I didn’t have chocolate. This means my dreams are limited. However, believing in God removed my limitations, now I can dream bigger, nobler, and have more impossible dreams.
During those years, I have walked in desert and danced in green pastures; I have fumbled in darkness and jogged in light; I have traveled in valleys and climbed mountains... I tasted both life’s bitterness and sweetness and it helped me sense life’s richness and abundance. Looking back, I realized that every moment has worked together to bring me to the truth, gain the essence of life, and understand the will of the Lord. Just as it is said, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) Most importantly I acknowledged that, through all of life’s struggles and turns, God has aimed for me to live out one of my dreams from my youth, to be an author and help others to reach their full potential, no matter who and where they are in life.
The ups and downs also taught me a profound lesson - every life has its unique path to its own destination where holds its own fullness. I felt obligated to draw out a road map I learned to reach the land of life’s fullness and wrote down the principles to guide people to complete their journey successfully. After all, every life deserves its best and should have a full blossom according to the will of God.
Grow to Your Fullest starts small. An acorn with only an average weight of 3.6 grams can grow into a tree about 60 feet tall, a mustard seed that is the smallest seed among all seeds can grow into a plant around 30 to 45 inches big. As human beings, we are seeds planted by a powerful God with infinite intelligence. How much more powerful and influential can we grow? Well, only God holds the answer.
As human beings, created in the image of God, except for physical needs, we also desire spiritual needs in soul, emotional needs in heart, social needs in relationships, and knowledge needs in nature. We aspire for fun, meaning, and significance in life beyond our physical needs. Growing is an unstoppable process until we literally leave this world. We may leave a trail of our footprints in people’s hearts and they can follow the footprints to continue life’s journey one generation after another. Even though we may physically leave the world, our spirits will be continually escalating. However, during the journey, many times, we feel hopeless and are stuck and cannot move forward an inch.
My book, Grow to Your Fullest, is all about helping you getting out of that trap. It will grow your knowledge, wisdom and spiritual maturity. It draws a road map that can guide and motivate you to reach your maximum, have a full blossom in love, faith, joy, peace, contentment and righteousness.
