Sooner or later, some (if not all) of our dreams won’t come true.

Take, for example, the ambitious yuppie out to make a big name for himself in the corporate world, only to toil in obscurity. Or the mid-life person who looks back at his life choices with bitter regret. Or a person entering retirement, wondering what he will do for the rest of his life.

When our cherished dreams go unfulfilled or suppressed, in one sense they have died. It is seasons like this that we need to reconnect with Easter.

The wonderful news is that death does not have the final word. Christians worldwide celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that He died, was buried and rose from the dead. In this way, He validated His claims to be the Son of God, Lord and Savior of the world.

Let us embrace the world as it really is, not as how we want it to be. It is great to dream big and set goals. But goals that hinge on the behavior of other people or on favorable circumstances can be recipes for frustration.

It sounds like a big gamble, but sometimes we have to let go of cherished goals before we can discover loftier ones.

I know of a mid-life person kept complaining about his less-than-stellar career. After a while, he realized that he was crippling himself of the ability to improve his situation. He finally let go of his unrealized dreams.

He was at peace. He no longer sees his office as a dungeon, but as a divine appointment. “I am here because God put me here,” he told me, “Now I will be faithful to the task.”

Such is the power of Easter. Dreams have died, but new meaning sprouted to life.

Dr. Gordon Smith offers this sage advice: God will lead us every step of the way, but He leads us one step at a time. God knows the end from the beginning, but we in our finiteness can’t even see what lies around the corner.

We cook up great dreams for ourselves, but God has far more wonderful dreams for us. Since He is in full control of people and circumstances, we can be sure His goals for us will come true. We must believe this even if, for the meantime, the path is dark and difficult.

Remember, one cannot have Easter without the Cross. Even if our present life is the product of poor choices, God can use even that for our blessing.

As long as we entrust ourselves to Him, no failure is final or fatal. In due time, He will redeem even our heartaches and disappointments.

Death could have barred Jesus from being with us in our triumphs and tragedies. But the good news of Easter is that He overcame death so that indeed He can be by our side. Not only in this world, but with God for all eternity.

May God open doors of blessing for you, just as He opened the door of a tomb that fateful Sunday.