The Penny: Why Your Wish Matters

I have a slight obsession with water.

I’ll take a lake, pool, ocean (minus the sharks), pond or sprinkler over land any day. 

One of my favorite things to do up at our lake cottage is go out on the pier early in the morning.

I take the current book I am reading and my journal.
While the rest of my family is inside eating breakfast, I am alone on the water. The only thing around me is the occasional fishing boat passing by.

I write and I listen.

One thing I also like to do on the water is make wishes.

Often times I write my wishes in my journal or speak them softly to God.
Sometimes I use a penny.

There is a wishing well, except not really a well, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

The first time I saw it, I thought about how many dreams were in that pool.
Countless pennies from songwriters, in hopes of having someone pick up their song.
Numerous pennies from artists, in hopes of getting a record label.

I remember throwing my penny in the first time I visited it.

My wish was that Kelly Clarkson would pick up one of the first songs I wrote, “Time to Shine”. 

Last week, my friend and I were lost in downtown Nashville, trying to find my car.
Out of the blue, we found this little pond in the back of a bank.
I took a penny out, made my wish and threw it in the water.
I was watching as it sunk to the bottom, causing a ripple effect.

I caught myself asking God if my wish was ok.

My wish does not involve starting some huge non-profit, going over-seas and becoming a missionary, working at a church, going to seminary, becoming a counselor, pastor’s wife or even pastor.

I started questioning if my wish was, “Christian” enough.

And then God answered, “Yes”.

As I was looking at my penny falling graciously to the bottom, I noticed the ripples it had caused.

Ripple, upon ripple, upon ripple.
And then I understood.

My wish is important.

My dream can help others pursue their dreams…
Those people's dream can then encourage other people to pursue their dream….

And so on.

The ripple effect.

Your dream matters, not only for you, but for others as well.

No wish is too small or too insignificant, too “Christian” or not “Christian” enough.

Believe in your wish.

Listen to your desires.
Trust your dreams.
The world needs you to go after your dream.

"Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive” Howard Thurman