When Susan Boyle stepped on to the stage in Britain’s Got Talent 2009, Simon Cowell asked what her dream was and she said that it was to be a professional singer. Asked further as to why this dream hasn’t worked out for her, she immediately replied that no one has given her a chance. As she stepped onto the stage, no one including the judges thought that they were going to be blown away. In fact, the judges had a cynical smile on their faces and were probably thinking to themselves that this had to be some kind of joke. The moment Susan Boyle opened her mouth to sing, not only was eyebrows raised, even jaws began to drop…. I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life worth living, I dreamed that love would never die, I dreamed that God would be forgiving. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Here is a woman who had a dream and she followed that dream without giving up. In the words of Harriet Tubman, an African-American abolitionist and humanitarian during the American Civil War, Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. Life is made up of dreams and the moment we stop dreaming, we lose all sense of hope for the future. In the recent GE13, many people were saddened by the outcome. Anger, frustrations, cheated, disappointed, dreams dashed, future doomed are only some of the many emotions and thoughts felt by a majority of people.

Most of us have dreams for the future – the future of our children, career, nation, church, etc. But most of us like to keep the dreams to ourselves because we fear being laughed at; and because we are afraid to explore that path, eventually the dream fades away either because of the surrounding circumstances or it was being extinguished by someone or some institution. Many of the inventions that we use today as necessities have been inspired by the dreams of individuals who did not give up even when they encountered failures in the process.

It is important to remember that dreams are always not built in a day! Many of us give up before we see our dreams come to pass. Our dreams are not mere dreams. They symbolise our hopes and aspirations. They form the foundation for a better life and a better future not only for us but for the future generation. Our dreams are the intersection of where we are now and where will be in the future … be it in our family, our community our country and in the Church.

No matter how challenging, no matter how exhausting, no matter how monotonous, no matter how overwhelming, no matter any of the multitudes of excuses that we can come up with for giving up on our dreams, God provides that hope. All we need to have is that faith and believe and in the words of Jesus, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” So let us hold on to our dreams for a better Malaysia and work towards realising them while safe in the knowledge that nothing is impossible with God.