A Devotion to Serve column
Find out how to turn your dreams into realities.

Well done is better than well said. --Benjamin Franklin

His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many. --Matthew 25:23a

When was the last time you did something toward your dream? Has it been so long you don't remember the last thing you did about it? If it has, don't worry you are not alone. In fact, the basic human nature of people is to procrastinate or table it for later. The good news is if you are still breathing, you can change. You don't have to die with unfulfilled dreams. Begin to connect action with your dream one step at a time.

Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's Corporation, possessed a significant characteristic: the habit of acting upon his dreams. "They called me Danny Dreamer a lot, even later when I was in high school and would come home all excited about some scheme I'd thought up. Even when I was young, I never considered my dreams wasted energy; they were invariably linked to some form of action. When I dreamed about having a lemonade stand, for example, it wasn't long before I set up a lemonade stand. I worked hard at it, and I sold a lot of lemonade."

• Born 1902, Oak Park, Illinois.



• Ambulance driver in WW2 at 15 yrs old.



• 1937, met the inventor of a food-mixer, bought the marketing rights and spent 17 years selling it all over USA.



• 1954, heard of two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, who ran a successful burger restaurant in San Bernadino, California-cheap burgers, French fries, and milk shakes...



• 1955 did a franchise deal with the brothers and opened a branch in Des Plaines, Illinois.



• 1961 Mr. Kroc bought the chain of over 130 McDonald's restaurants for 2.7 million.



• 1984 Mr. Kroc died and the McDonald chain had over 7500 international outlets.

In similar language the writer of James encouraged us to be not only hearers but doers of the Word of God saying, we are like a man that sees himself in the mirror but after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like if he does not act on the Word.2


For dreamers like Ray Kroc, no matter the size, dreams and actions are never wasted but rather the substance their future is made of. We must paint the picture of our dreams with our actions. Read the book of James and be inspired to act on your dreams one faith-filled step at a time until they come true .


Significant service: Throughout his life he contributed enormously to numerous charities, particularly to those supporting medical research of multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and diabetes.


1. Ray Kroc, Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977), p.12.

2. See James 1:24.

Earma Brown, Author, Bible Teacher
WOW! Women of Worth: 7 Strategies to Becoming Extraordinary Women Using Ordinary Tools. Want insightful articles & tips to pursuing your God-given destiny? Subscribe to the free e-zine "The WOW Series" at http://www.wowontheweb.org