Losing your coat doesn't mean losing your dream

God gives us direction, dreams if you will, for our future.

You have a dream - a purpose for your life.

I do to.

As followers of Christ, we all do.

Joseph, as a 17 year old boy (Genesis 37) had a dream.

It was a dream from God - about his future - and the way God would use him.

It was a dream that included the fact that one day his siblings would bow down to him.

He shared that dream with his brothers in a prideful way.

Now as one of the youngest of the tribe - it was not a smart thing to do.

That dream (that he shared with his brothers) and the fact that his dad, Jacob, favored him above all the rest of the children, did not set well with the brothers.

His dad gave him a "coat of many colors."

Because of their jealousy, the brothers took Joseph and sold him to some passing travelers.

Not wanting Jacob to know what they did - they faked his death.

The Bible says in Genesis 37:31-32, "Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.  They took the ornamented robe back to their father."

Joseph lost his coat.  His status with his dad.  The piece of clothing that set him "head and shoulders" above the rest.

Please understand that when you lose your coat - you have not lost your dream.

So, I challenge you today to know the difference between your dream and your coat.  Your dream is a permanent calling from God that requires a process of cultivation for fulfillment.

Your coat, whatever gives you a feeling of status - is a temporary symbol that God may choose to take away.

But that doesn't mean that your dream is lost.  Don't confuse the two.

God is much more interested in who the dream makes you than what the dream is.

Losing your coat doesn't mean losing  your dream.

Just a thought for a Wednesday.