Mrs. Pirie

I looked out of the plane window as we began our descent into Seattle, Washington. I was fascinated by the sight of Mount Rainier covered in snow that sparkled as the sun began to set.

Just outside Seattle is the headquarters of World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization serving the world’s poor. I was there for the next two days with some of my friends to attend a symposium about how we could become more effectively involved with their work.

I will confess that I was not excited about this trip. As part of a team of women called Women of Faith, I travel about thirty weekends every year and speak in arenas all across the county. The thought of one more four-hour plane trip was not appealing. I had no idea that God was about to change my life, my heart, and my vision, and to give me a new dream.

During the next forty-eight hours, I heard many stories that left their mark on me, but the one I want to share with you here concerns Mrs. Pirie. Her story came to us by Bwalya Melu, who works with World Vision in Zambia.

Life is very harsh in Zambia. The life expectancy is about thirty years. The HIV virus and extreme poverty have orphaned almost three quarters of a million children. Surely dreaming in such dire circumstances would be impossible—or so I thought.

During a trip into a small community devastated by disease and malnutrition, Bwalya interviewed a woman named Mrs. Pirie. Trying to discern the most pressing issues for a woman living in such squalor, he asked her if she could have anything in the world, what would it be?

I imagined that she might wish for a new home, clean water, or food in her pantry, but I was very wrong. Her reply was simple: “I would wish for a day when I could go into town and play with my friends.”

Mrs. Pirie has not forgotten what it is like to dream. Unlike Aunt Em, whose perspective had become as gray as her surroundings, Mrs. Pirie still holds color in her heart. “The poor have a dream,” Bwalya told us. “It is beyond clean water and food. It is to be human, to be free.”

That night, as I lay in my hotel bed, I thought about Mrs. Pirie and prayed for her. Her vulnerability and honesty touched me deeply. I saw her not as a person in need but a woman with a dream, a woman like you or like me. She is someone who remembers that to be free and to dream are worth having above many other things. In fact, in some ways, Mrs. Pirie might be more in touch with her dreams than we are. Many of us live at such an intense pace that we leave little time for dreaming.

So what is the difference between dreamers like Dorothy and Mrs. Pirie and disillusioned women like Aunt Em? Why do some women, against all odds, still hold their dreams in their heart and others allow them to be crushed beyond recognition?

What Happened To Your Dreams?

Take a moment to think about your own life. What did you dream of as a little girl? How have your dreams changed? Did you choose to lay them down, or did you have to? Do you even remember what they were?

What happened to your dreams?

I imagine if I could sit down with a woman like Aunt Em and ask her what her dreams are, she would probably say that she had no time for such nonsense. She might say that dreaming is just for silly girls whose only responsibility is to care for a nuisance of a dog. For Aunt Em, the four walls of her home had become a prison rather than a refuge. They were the reminders of what had not happened in her life. They were the constraints that made laughter an affront and dreaming a thing of the past.

I wonder how many of us in the church live that way too. It seems like there is no time to dream these days. But if you study the Bible, you’ll find that its pages are full of dreamers. There are stories of those whose dreams went unfulfilled. There are stories of those who exchanged their old dreams for new ones and those who received unexpected dreams from God that changed their lives and the course of human history.

There is also a promise of what will happen in what the prophet Joel describes as the last days: “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: your sons will prophesy, also your daughters. Your old men will dream, your young men will see visions” ( Joel 2:28 MSG).

This text was quoted by the apostle Peter after the death and resurrection of Christ. On the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit fell on the disciples and they were filled with new vision and fire. People couldn’t understand what had happened to these frightened men, so Peter addressed the crowd. “This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: ‘In the Last Days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit on those who serve me, men and women both, and they’ll prophesy’” (Acts 2:16–18 MSG).

I believe that God wants to teach us how to dream again. I believe, too, that he wants to fulfill our dreams. It might not be in the way we anticipate, but if we are open to his heart, this great adventure will change us.

It’s a risky business to dream, for dreaming leaves us open to disappointment. But I think that when we stop dreaming, a part of us dies. So I say it’s time to dream again—and, knowing that with God nothing is impossible, dream big! Perhaps like Dorothy and Toto, we might be in for the ride of our lives.

You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; you ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.
—Psalm 30:11–12 MSG