I once read a poem entitled, Two Ghosts. In this poem the author, Thomas Jones, describes himself like a pair of ghosts. One is the boy he used to be; the other is the man he might have been. They are both deeply disturbing. The boy he used to be had such high hopes for the man to be.
In one degree or another, we can all identify with the writer. Most of us have unfulfilled dreams of what might have been. Paul tackled this subject when he asked the question, “Do you not know your bodies are God’s temple and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you?” He encourages all of us to think bigger of ourselves, not because of our successes, but because of God’s intentions. He has high expectations for each of us. Did God make any of us with the intention of failure or lacking the possibility of fulfillment? If I understand the desire of God in creation and the meaning of re-creation (salvation), I think not.
One of the great promises of our faith is that there are always opportunities for new beginnings. Course correction is available if we are not headed in the direction God intended. It could be that the restlessness some of us feel inside when we are doing less than our best is that Spirit of God who dwells within us stirring us to new heights. Oh, I know we have to be careful about pride. But I have found most of us in the Christian community do not really think big enough, long enough or hard enough about why we are here and the possibilities God built into who we are.