Genesis 43:26-28  When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought him, then bowed low to the ground before him. After greeting them, he asked, “How is your father, the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?” “Yes,” they replied. “Our father, your servant, is alive and well.” And they bowed low again. (NLT)

Genesis 44:5  “But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.” (NLT)

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How can we distinguish between a God-given dream and a personal fantasy? Fantasies are almost always all about us. God Dreams are about others. 

Joseph found himself living the life of his dreams. It wasn’t his position that indicated his dreams had come true. It wasn’t his power to command the wealth of the nation. It wasn’t his palace, his wife and children, and his other possessions. Joseph’s first dream came true, in part, when his brothers bowed before him. 

The shock of recognition continued with the realization of why he had been sold into slavery, why he had learned to manage a household, why he had learned to manage the worst kinds of people in prison, and why God had elevated him to his position, power, and purpose. 

Joseph’s purpose was not about elevating himself. Joseph’s purpose was to preserve lives and rescue a nation. 

God’s dreams for us are always bigger and better than our dreams for ourselves. Maximized lives overflow with God’s goodness and enrich others’ lives. 

What has God been up to in your life to this point? Most of us have lived our lives without inventorying and interpreting our lives. We have not considered deeply enough how God has been shaping us for significance. 

Take a look sometime at the decades of your life beginning with your teen years. What is the overarching theme of each decade? What is true and good about each decade? What lie does the evil one want you to believe? Where do you see the hand of God? 

Consider where you stand and where you’re headed based on what God has been doing in your life until now. Trust him that as he has been with you through every high and every low, he is with you now and will not let you go.

The Dream Giver is still working out his plan for your life. The rest of your life can be the best of your life. 

Executive Coach Bobb Biehl says our sixties and seventies are the most productive and effective decades of our lives. His book Decade by Decade: Life Is Surprisingly Predictable focuses on “Maximizing this phase of your life.” We bring everything we have learned and experienced to this point to every meaningful conversation and each leadership challenge. 

What does this perspective clarify today? 

What does this perspective make possible today?

Truth is more powerful than fiction, and God’s dreams for us are more wonderful than our dreams for ourselves. 

Joseph, like his great-grandfather Abraham, was blessed to be a blessing. God used his life to save many lives, including those who wanted to take his life. The end of his story was the best of his story. May it be so for you and me as well.

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I will live the life of God’s dreams for me all the way to the end.

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Our Father, empower me to finish well. Make the rest of my life the best of my life. Show me how to maximize this phase of my life. Amen.