The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
The following day was going to be his last but the words he would say and his legacy would last and linger for years to come.
They are still with us. It was four years after the Rhodesia government then had declared its Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom and had been plunged into a sanctioned economy. The year was 1968 and the United States of America (USA) was then embroiled in the flames of tense racial relations. The nation was looking for a way to breathe and dreams were looking for space and time.
Every season is seized with dreamers and dreams. Dream a bold dream and your spirit will respond with determination. A dream is a seed of possibilities and the womb of all creation. The spirit is always stronger than any obstacle. What you see is always more important than what is on the scene.
The unseen dreams always manifest the seen. Obstacles are those scary things that you see when you take your eyes off your dreams of greatness.
Dreams are empowering forces and pivots that mark time. One dreamer who created history was there.
The site was Memphis, Tennessee in the USA and the speaker felt the tension of the moment and knew this was not an ordinary day. It was “dreams-day”. His message met the moment and his dream shined through the dark clouds of despair. It was going to be his last speech and his dream expressed the shape of the future and the possibilities that looked impossible.
Dreams are nothing ordinary sands. Great dreams are scary but still possible. If your dream does not scare you it likely is very small. Scale it and do not be scared of it! If your dream does not have obstacles in its path it is likely a mere routine and not a dream of destiny. The best dreams are the ones dreamt with open eyes and pulsating minds.
The day was April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple of the Church of God in Christ Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. There, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave what was going to be his last speech popularly entitled: “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. Dreams take us to the mountain top and make us see refreshing views of greatness. The view from the loft is never the same as the one from the basement.
In his heartfelt delivery to that sweltering and packed Memphis Church, he spoke prophetically and opened up about the pressures that he was facing. Dreams have validity despite the pressures that they face. Never let any adversity tempt you to abandon your dream. Cynics should not make you abort your dreams and blind you from possibilities.
Dream in colour and express the dreams confidently. Dream boldly and dare to make bold moves. You may dream alone but mobilise support for the dream. Dream and keep feeding the dreams to keep them alive.
Towards the end of his speech, in a moving moment of flow and reaching his crescendo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared boldly: “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live — a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over.
“And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
Dr. King had a dream. He spoke about the dream. He expressed the emotion of the dream.
He mobilised around the dream because dream require work to be translated into reality. Dream and then do something massive and committed about your dream.
In matters of greatness you have to go to the future in your mind before you get there any other way. First, is the mental creation, then the manifestation follows. Dream on paper if you can.
Dream and sketch the dream in some concrete way. Dream and give the dream concrete shape in the form of a model, concept paper, proposal, vision-board, recording and napkin sketch. Catch your dream in a memorable way that will move any reader. It is not really a dream when you can easily forget it and be easily persuaded to dump it. Great people believe in the value of their dreams and are willing to carry the dreams through valleys, mountains and seasons.
Welcome Back
Go to the future daily and make your mark and plant your flag as you journal, pray and reflect. Then live daily life as one who has just come back from the future and is going back there. There is little leverage in the past.
There is little use in being a ball of petty pains and always looking for someone to blame. Take responsibility and dream in bold lines. Do not let your circumstances limit you. Do not let where people or circumstance have put you stop you. Glance at the brutal realities regardless of how bad they might be but do not stop dreaming and doing. You may have to carry your dream in a manger, but that does not make you dung.
In Dr. Stephen Covey’s words one of the habits of highly effective people is that they always begin with the future in mind. Do not just work with just the past, but be obsessed with the future and its possibilities. Have a historical mindset, but cultivate a dreaming capability that makes you see possibilities all around you. Have an appetite for dreaming solutions where others are looking for an easy path to nowhere.
The mental creation heralds all greatness. The moments of creation may look feeble but there is nothing that is ever stronger than a clear thought and inspiring dream. People may die, but dream caught and shared never.
Thoughts are things that create greatness. Faith is fed by pictures. Positive pictures fuel motivation. Negative pictures feed fear and paranoia.
When people operate out of a paradigm of fear, they stop thinking, envisioning and they only think of self-preservation. Mere survival is not destiny defining. There is a huge invitation of the future that is open to all dreamers. In the world of dreamers there is no shortage of space. There is only greatness beckoning to you to come over.
Dream Big
Keep dreaming of possibilities and ask why not? Keep challenging your limits and ask why not? If your life has been a nightmare to date, do not give up and lose hope.
Stop counting your birth statistic and thinking you are out of time. Every dream has its time and you are never too old to dream dreams.
If other people laugh at your dreams, do not be discouraged because they cannot see what you see. Keep dreaming despite the naysayers. Enlarge the size of your dreams and let the dreams feed your faith. If you are going to be dreaming anyway, you might as well dream big and bold.
The resources and problems around you are looking for creative dreamers that solve problems instead of complaining about them. Let your dreams burn brightly within you.
Let the dreams inspire what you reading, where you travel and the travails you bear with grace. Dream big and do not stop dreaming until change happens and greatness appears.
Keep dreaming big.
In 1996, Ms. Céline Dion made a special Asia Tour and released during that tour a special song entitled: “The Power of a Dream!” Sing along with her as you dream.
The words of this inspiring song of dreamers are:
“Deep within each heart
There lies a magic spark
That lights the fire of our imagination
And since the dawn of man
The strength of just “I can”
Has brought together people of all nations
There’s nothing ordinary
In the living of each day
There’s a special part
Every one of us will play
Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
As the world gives us its best
To stand apart from all the rest
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
Your mind will take you far
The rest is just pure heart
You’ll find your fate is all your own creation
And every boy and girl
As they come into this world
They bring the gift of hope and inspiration
Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world in lights and hope and peace
We pray that you will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
There’s so much strength in all of us
Every woman child and man
It’s the moment that you think you can’t
You’ll discover that you can
Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
(To bring us closer to) the power of the dream
The world in lights and hope and peace
(We’ll pray that) it will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
eel the flame (forever burn)
eaching (lessons we must learn)
(To bring us closer to) we’ve got to learn the power of the dream.
(The world in lights and hope and peace)
We pray that it will always be
(It is) the power of the dream that brings us
To realise the power of the dream
To realise the power of the dream.”
Your dreams are a very special treasure. Do not lose the power to dream. You may be in a hole, but do not stop dreaming. Your dreams represent hope for the future, faith in the present and a payload of motivation.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com.
