Picture looking straight ahead. You see the blue oceans with white sandy beaches. Or maybe you see the love of your life. Maybe you see your dream house or dream car. Perhaps you see your new office because you got the job or received the promotion. Maybe you see yourself in the mirror and you look more physically attractive because you lost weight or gained muscle. Maybe you see the audience applauding because you made a riveting presentation. Perhaps you see your family smiling and happy because you did them proud.

As you step forward to move closer to what you see, a cloud of dust blows in front of you. You stand in dismay not being able to make another step forward because it seems the wind blew away what was in front of you. You are left thinking that the flurry of dust has ruined the pristine images you saw.

Suddenly the dust clears as the director of the special effects of that movie says, “Cut!” The dust and wind were not real but illusions. Instantly your pictures and the destinations in front of you become clear again.

Now you make three steps forward and this time it is a flood that gushes the destination. Thousands of gallons of water are rushing toward you. Yet again the director yells, “Cut!”, the waters dry up and your destinations become clear again. It was another illusion.

This time you start trotting toward what you realize is within your reach. As before, another disaster appears and this time it is fire. This time you do not stop because you know it is not real – you learned that it is only an illusion. You pick up the pace to a run, boldly blasting through the flames and charge toward the destination. You reached it!

In life we have goals and dreams that are within our reach. But often we get disillusioned by illusions of short-comings or roadblocks that are not real. Because we believe them to be roadblocks, we give them power to stop us and at the same time restrict our resourcefulness to overcome them. We as the directors of our lives have the power to courageously command “Cut!”, change the scenery and realize clarity. Because of God’s presence, we have the power to remove or plough through the layers of illusions one by one, no matter how seemingly treacherous (Psalm 23:4). The destination is certainly within our reach!