As an English major and an English teacher, I have come across this poem by Langston Hughes many times. However, it has never hit me like it did the other day.
Hughes poses the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” He then offers some suggestions for what he thinks might be the answer: “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”
Every time I have read this poem, I have felt sorry for the person it applied to. I felt sorry for the person whose dream has been deferred…the person who has been told to wait for his dream to come true. As I read this poem the other day, and as I stand in the middle of a prolonged season of waiting, I saw myself in the poem and realized that I, too, often ponder these same questions:
What does happen to a dream while you’re waiting for it to come true? Does to dry up and eventually die, leaving you with only a memory of it? Or does it become infected with bitterness and frustration and grow into something that causes you pain? Or does it begin to stink and make you sick every time you think about it? Or does it become so heavy to carry that you buckle under its weight and it just makes you want to give up?
The writer of Proverbs makes a similar statement, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Not to be too redundant, but it seems that many people agree that it stinks to be waiting for your hopes and dreams to come true. So, I can’t help but ask the obvious question: What do we do when we find ourselves there? We can’t just complain and whine and give up.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” In the midst of a dream deferred, the way for me to hold onto hope is my faith. I have faith in God’s promises, so I can also have hope that He’s got good things planned for me. I have faith that God is who He says He is, so I can also have hope that He’s going to be faithful. I have faith that God loves me, so I can also have hope that He’s walking right beside me. And as a result of all of this, I don’t have to worry about what happens to a dream deferred…I can trust that if MY dream does not come true that GOD’S dream for me will…and His dream is much better than mine (Eph. 3:20).
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