Living the Dream!

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
—1 Corinthians 2:9

What is your dream?

What is your vision for your family, your life, your career, your unit, your clinic, your patients? You know the answer to each of these questions. You can describe the values, the relationships, the experiences you seek for each of them.


So…are you living the dream? Are you making the dream real each day, or, like so many others, are you waiting for the "some time-some where" when you hope it all magically happens?

I’m at 33,000 ft as I write this, flying back to Tampa, having spent the last four days speaking with the leadership of the Kettering Health Network with whom I ministered and lived for 20 years. Up here I can see for 280 miles and I am reflecting on what I saw returning after 10 years to my old stomping grounds.

There was a dream way back in 1958 when George Nelson, their founder, spoke of building a hospital that truly would be a community partner in health and wellbeing, making man whole through health, education, research, and innovation. It was only a dream then not a reality. Yet with each day of service, each opportunity of choice, each decision to make the dream live, it took shape, and indeed has now been recognized as one of the nation’s top ten health networks.

The advantage of looking back affords a perspective you do not get in the midst of the daily grind. You are able to see the dream taking shape, the advances that so often are blurred by the daily rush of things become a bit clearer and more appreciated. In the 1950s there was a dream for Shawnee Mission Medical Center, my most recent stomping grounds, which through the daily choices of faithful, hard-working folk is now a reality, far beyond the founder’s imaginings.

In 1968, people of vision had a dream for University Community Health, a dream that together we would be the health partner of choice for the growing rural area of North Tampa.

Look around and realize all that has happened. Take stock of the faithful work, the daily choices of so many that have advanced our agenda, and are making our dream real. It is our dream now to shape and make happed every day. Take time to appreciate how far you have come, what is good, because it gives you the energy to live the dream making it happen each day!

In a few moments you will be working with patients, families, associates, or physician partners who have a dream. Listen to them, help them think of their dream again, help them find the energy it brings and then help them make a choice to help it happen.