Rescuing Ambition

by Dave Harvey

But sometimes God’s agenda for change involves losing our dreams. For many it goes beyond vocation. The fifty-something single woman concludes she’ll probably never marry. The man approaching retirement realizes he doesn’t have enough money to retire. Our spouse doesn’t change; the marriage is stalled and aimless. We’re drifting like a car with no brakes or steering wheel. The kids seem stuck and require too much work. The house or neighborhood or church or social network or—you fill in the blank—no longer satisfies. “We don’t realize how influential our dreams are until mid-life,” Paul Tripp says. “All of a sudden, we feel cheated, conned, and stuck. What satisfied us before doesn’t do it anymore.”6 But it’s more than just dissatisfaction. It’s the death of certain ambitions. It’s the burial of our dream.