Remember when you dreamed big? Peace Corps worker, concert pianist, research scientist, international medical volunteer. Remember when thoughts of grand accomplishments inspired your mind and energized your efforts? Weren’t those exciting, life-giving days!
What’s happened to your big dreams since then? In all likelihood, life happened. Your dreams moved to second, even third place, as you came face to face with financial limitations, family conflicts, career setbacks or even your own physical illness. Disillusionment set in as you were forced to compromise, and your dreams became fading memories.
Aspirations may indeed become distant, but they are difficult to lose entirely. Albert Einstein predicted while he was still in college that he would someday win a Nobel Prize. His next years were plagued by indebtedness, a broken marriage and estrangement from his sons, one of whom suffered from schizophrenia. Yet twenty-six years later, in 1921, Einstein prevailed, winning the Nobel Prize for physics, revolutionizing scientific thought and making possible many of today’s technologies including photoelectric cells, lasers, nuclear power, fiber optics, and space travel.
Marcy Lynn Coonce also dreamed big while she was still a physical therapy student at Ohio State University. But she hit some obstacles. Marcy comments, “I felt God was calling me to become involved with medical missions, but my university did not have many resources and I didn’t know where to start.” Marcy then connected with INMED, and with our assistance, Marcy went on to study and serve for three months at Vellore Christian Medical College & Hospital in southern India. Marcy reflects, “This experience made an enormous impact on my life. I grew more confident in my ability to handle difficult and challenging situations across the divides of culture and language. I grew more assured in my conviction to provide treatment for people who are in greatest need of health care.”
Dreams are never far removed from interruptions nor distractions, whether you’re an Einstein or a student. I believe a key to keeping your dreams in focus is to surround yourself with others who share your aspirations, who fuel your goals. Indeed, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). We at the Institute for International Medicine are all about assisting healthcare professionals to keep alive their dreams of serving the least served. Regardless of your profession or place in life, I implore you to reconsider your dreams, hold fast to the ones most worthy, to surround yourself with those who share your aspirations and to make 2010 a year in which your dreams take on life. What dream will you renew?