My Halcyon Days

No worries! Definition to follow! 🙂

Many evenings, after dinner, settling in with my hubby after dinner for a relaxing time together, the low whistle of a slow-moving train brings a smile to my lips and a lift to my heart. That sweet sound takes me back to my halcyon days at Carson-Newman University in the eastern hills of Tennessee. There in my dorm room, I’d settle into my overstuffed rocker with a cup of hot chocolate after a fulfilling day of doing what I loved best—learning, growing, and acting silly—incredibly thankful that God brought me to this place at this time.

Even today, so many different sensory signals tickle the Carson-Newman area of my brain. The clinks of hundreds of 8-ounce drinking glasses and the echo of lively chatter in the college cafeteria. The distinctive smells of the third floor of Dougherty Science Center, different each day of the week because of the particular labs being taught that day. I’m convinced no other chemistry department in the world has that same unique blend of smells. The invigorating tang of the powdered spiced tea mixture, always concocted by the same chemistry professor, delighting both students and teachers—I still have that recipe! Every time I revisit that building, I remember my happy days as a twenty-year-old chemistry major, scurrying the halls in my lab coat and prescription safety glasses with the plastic side shields.

Ahhh…

Why do I cherish these sensory reminders? It’s not only because I had a great time at Carson-Newman, did well there, had wonderful friends there, loved the church across the road from my dorm, or loved chemistry classes and school in general—or even because I loved the professors who became my Christian mentors, who helped me become who I am today, and whom I still visit more than 30 years later.

The essentially life-transforming reason I loved my days at Carson-Newman was that I felt totally free, encouraged, and empowered to be who God made me to be and do what He made me to do.

I still long for those kinds of halcyon days.

Now, more than three decades after my days at Carson-Newman, I’ve had plenty of days that felt diametrically opposite those at my alma mater. I failed. People wronged me. I wronged people. Oh yes, I’ve also had great times and great friends, and God even blessed me with the best hubby on the planet—but at other times I’ve felt like a fraud, a misfit, and a failure, sometimes all in the same day!

But then I hear the train whistle, or I smell spiced tea, and hope springs eternal for the dreams I held “back in the day” at good-ole Carson-Newman.

I’ve purposely prayed through my supremely fond memories of Carson-Newman, and through them God showed me how—in very real ways—the dreams I cherished at Carson-Newman still live and breathe. On the contrary, I thought that those windows of opportunity closed long ago, thereby killing those dreams forever.

And indeed, my own concept of those dreams will never happen. I will never be a medical researcher. I will never teach at an Ivy League university. I will never be an astronaut. 🙂

But my concept of God’s dreams fell far short of His wonderful plan for my life and calling.

Becoming a medical researcher was just one of the many ways that I could have lived my uniquely created identity, core values, and unique combination of likes and quirks. God showed me that, and He revived His dreams anew in my heart

He will do the same for you.

What Are Halcyon Days?

(pronunciation: "HAL-see-un")

The term, “halcyon days,” might not yet be in your vocabulary! “Halcyon days” are weeks, months, or years in the past that you blissfully remember as supremely joyful and successful—a time when everything felt right, bright, and carefree, infused with the warmth and excited glow of unlimited possibilities.

Halcyon days are associated in your mind with a specific time, place, people. You remember halcyon days fondly but also perhaps wistfully, because you believe life could never glow with that kind of ideal happiness ever again.

But God put those halcyon hopes and dreams in your heart when you were very young.

You might think the dreams died because they were just naïve or wrong-headed from the very beginning.

But those dreams still live and breathe. Their fulfillment might look nothing like your past visions, but God will fulfill them in even better ways—fitting them delightfully and precisely to who He has created you to be and what He has created you to do. And He will open the right doors of opportunity at the right times, for your delight, other people’s blessing, and His glory.

Prayerfully reimagining your halcyon days is one of the most powerful ways to rediscover the dreams God put in your heart early in your life.

When Were Your Halcyon Days?

If you have trouble figuring out when you halcyon days were, prayerfully use the tips below:

• During the weeks, months, or years of your halcyon days—sometimes in the very distant past, but not always—you felt more right, bright, happy, successful, carefree, and full of possibilities than at any other time in your life.
• Although your halcyon days felt supremely good, they might have preceded or followed difficult times. For example, my father died at the beginning of my halcyon days.
• Your halcyon days probably happened during a well-defined period of time while you were in a particular situation, i.e. under certain circumstances when you were a child, or when you lived in a certain place that you loved, or when you did certain activities that you really enjoyed, or when you were with certain people that helped you become who you are.
• When were your halcyon days? When did they start? When did they end?
• What happened immediately before or after your halcyon days?
• How do you see God’s providential blessings in the timing of your halcyon days?

What Was So Meaningful About Your Halcyon Days?

In general, halcyon days feel so good because:

• You felt most fully and genuinely you, more than any other time in your life.
• You most fully enjoyed being who God created you to be, more than any other time in your life.
• You connected so well with the people in those days, because you mutually understood and cared about one another, and you might have even worked together toward similar goals.
• You felt free to work and play in ways that you most enjoyed.

We tend to think our halcyon days were so idyllic because of the unique combination of time, place, people, or activities—so when we moved on to circumstances, the sunny halcyon days fades into sepia-colored wistful memories that now evoke sad yearning for what might have been.

But indeed, our halcyon days are absolute gold mines of information and inspiration for God’s hope and dreams for our future. The key is not to focus exclusively on the particulars of the halcyon days themselves, but to discover why “the particulars” were especially meaningful. Specifically, we want to discover what desirable intangibles carry forward into all future stages of our life and calling.

Below is an example of how to do that:

• In my halcyon days in college, I dreamed of becoming a medical researcher. That dream later died. However, what I loved about the possibility of becoming a medical researcher was and always will be at the core of who I am. I love learning new things, especially in school settings with like-minded students and inspiring teachers. I love applying what I learn to help people in practical and significant ways. I love working on projects with well-defined beginnings, middles, and endings, after which I can eagerly move on to the next adventure. As I do the projects, I like to record what I’m learning, extrapolate new applications from what I learned, and write about my findings so others can benefit too. I love thinking, imagining, and creating with like-minded people.

I can do all of the above, whether I am a medical researcher or a life coach or a writer or a multitude of other roles.

What about you?

Prayerfully consider the questions below to discover the dreams God put in your own heart. These dreams probably were clearest during your halcyon days:

• What activities did you especially enjoy during your halcyon days? What about those activities will always be a core part of who you are?
  (For example: If you loved playing sports in your halcyon days, what about doing sports is a core part of who you are? Is it pushing yourself to do more than you ever thought possible? Is it the joy and satisfaction of working hard and succeeding together individually or as a team? Or is it the way sports keeps you motivated to be and do your best, etc.?)
• What important people in your halcyon days encouraged you, believed in you, and helped you to become who you are today? What did you appreciate and admire in these people?
  (For example: My college professors easily and naturally blended their Christian faith with their life and work. They became experts in their field, they were humble about it, God transformed people’s lives through them, and they generously and sacrificially gave their time, talents, and money to pass their wisdom along to others. Plus—an added bonus—they exhibited individually unique senses of humor, and they were great fun!)
• During your halcyon days, what did you hope and dream of doing in the future? What did those dreams reveal about your core desires for your life and work?
  (For example: See my description above about my dream of becoming a medical researcher.)

Discover the Dream God Put in Your Heart

Your dreams are not dead. They might turn out different than you first imagined—but indeed, God will make them even better than you ever imagined!

My dream of being a medical researcher died more than 30 years ago.

But now, I’m living an even better dream. I still get to learn new things every day—not about medicine, but about God and about helping people to grow in Him. I still go to school—not always at a traditional university, but often online as I take courses from inspired teachers, and with like-minded students. I still write and research—not about science—but about how people grow in Christ and their Christian calling. I extrapolate new applications of what I learn, and I write about that in my regular blogs. I still love to think, imagine, and create. And I’m doing all of that in ways that are far more gratifying and impactful than medical research ever could have been!

I am indeed living the dream that God put in my heart so many years ago—obvious during my halcyon days at Carson-Newman University, but now even more obvious as a coach, writer, and speaker who helps people find and fulfill their Christian calling.

What about you?

How will God resurrect those halcyon dreams of yours? You might never live that dream the same way you imagined during your halcyon years. But guess what—you’ll live an even greater dream, matured by God’s lovingly providential hand in your life experiences, and springing uniquely from who He uniquely created you to be.

David and Israel and You and Me

I wonder when King David’s halcyon days were! He grew up a shepherd boy. He spent a lot of lonely, boring days and nights outside, alone, during all kinds of weather, taking care of dumb animals and stinking to high heaven as a lowly laborer in one of the least respected vocations of his time. And the Bible tells us that he occasionally even risked his life for these dumb animals, successfully defending them, heart pounding with fear, from lions and bears.

David was the youngest kid in his family. Did he ever dream of running his own farm? Or did he dream instead of a blessedly idyllic time in the future when he could forever and gleefully kiss the smelly sheep goodbye? And did he ever dream of doing something—anything—to gain the respect and admiration of his older brothers?

We don’t know.

But we do know that David grew strong physically and emotionally, largely because he was a shepherd. He learned to be courageous and stand up for what He believed in, spectacularly demonstrated when he stepped boldly forward to slay Goliath with a slingshot and five stones. He learned to love God and totally depend upon Him during those long nights in the sheep fold. He learned to play the harp, writing at least 70 of the Psalms. And he deployed every single one of those character traits—and so many more—when God eventually called him to reign as king over the entire nation of Israel.

Regardless of when David’s halcyon days were—or what his halcyon hopes and dreams were—David eventually fulfilled the dreams God put in his heart. Those dreams undoubtedly were not the dreams David imagined. I doubt that David ever dreamed of becoming a king. But God converted David's original dreams—whatever they were—into even better ones, so that David indeed became who God created him to me and did what God created him to do.

He will do the same for you. God might not fulfill your halcyon dreams in the ways you originally imagined, but He will fulfill them in even better ways for your future. He will fulfill your dream so that you become who He created you to be and do what He created you to do.

Take courage from King David—who wrote the Bible verse below—and step confidently forward into God’s future for your life and calling!

• Let all that I am praise the Lord. (Psalm 103:1) 

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