Would you let a dream die to be happy?

We are taught and shown examples of people who dreamed big and succeeded.  We are often shown examples of people who gave up on dreams too soon.  I once read in Think and Grow Rich about a gold miner who gave up on his mine, someone else bought it and struck it rich.  Should “never give up” be our motto?  I had a day of Serendipity on 3/18/15. 

1.  I was thinking about the Gospel for this Sunday, John 12:20-33, which says among other things that unless a grain of wheat dies, it will not bear fruit. 
2. That morning I was listening to the Joy Cardin show on NPR.  Her guest that day was Tracey Cleantis, author of The Next Happy: Let Go of the Life You Planned, and Find a New Way Forward.  
3. What a great secular insight that reinforces a Christian message.  Sometimes we hold onto dreams over which we have no control, or that are unrealistic.  This gets in the way of our happiness.  It may be that the part of us that is invested in that dream has to die, in order to have a happy life. 

Reading and hearing those two ideas refocused me on “dying to myself” during Lent.  What are my dreams that I need to let go?  I looked back at some of the dreams that I had 20 years ago.  One example, “Run for political office.”  Wow, am I happy that dream did not come true.  I still wish that the political positions that I support had greater voice in local and national politics.  Maybe those things don’t get in the way of other people’s happiness.  But, the constant travel, campaigning, listening to boring speeches, giving boring speeches would have seriously distracted from my happiness. 

Other dreams were more difficult to let go.  Ms. Cleantis’s dream in her book was to have a biological child.  She spent 10 years pursuing that dream before deciding that the healthiest thing to do would be to let the dream die, grieve the loss of the dream, and move forward.  Many of the dreams that I have let die in the past, or am considering letting die are very dear to me.  Maybe mine are not as large and personal as that one portrayed in the book, but they were and are difficult to let die none-the-less.  The big question for me for the rest of Lent is:

In my personal life, and in my professional life,

Can I die to myself, to live the life of Happiness that God has planned?

Can I trust that God has a better plan, and God is just waiting for me to let go of my own plans to move forward? 

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (John 12:24,25)