An Impossible Dream: Wannabe Knights Fighting Windmills

A hero lives within all of us. We champion the weak while triumphing over the wicked. Most of us have nurtured the hero at a young age by wearing a cape or mask and maybe packing a toy side arm. We pretended trees were our forts, boulders were lookout points and our bicycles were our horses. We fought our enemies and secured the safety of the damsel in distress. We dreamed an impossible dream.

As we entered adulthood the hero within us never died, but continued to thrive as we championed greater causes. Maybe we feed the homeless in a soup kitchen. Maybe we help lead one of the addiction support groups. Maybe we volunteer to read at the local elementary school. Maybe we collect supplies for a children’s home or loose change for a crisis pregnancy center. Deep down we know we’re doing good and helping overcome something bad.

Life can be complicated. And the battles we choose to fight hold the life we live in the balance, or at least we believe so. Too many times we’ve convinced ourselves we’re fighting giants when we’re really fighting windmills, and the dream is impossible to realize.

Don Quixote was the Man of La Mancha. A man of chivalry. A knight, or at least he saw himself as a knight. With his squire by his side, who was actually a poor farmer named Sancho, Don Quixote sought out his adventures to conquer evil and to save the good. His most notorious battle was the fierce giant. Everyone else only saw him fail at taking down a windmill.

I once had a conversation with my college roommate, Mike Anderson. Trying to be respectful, I was seeking insight to the personality of a mutual friend. This person tended to exaggerate problems and events, in part to make himself the hero of the story. At least that was my assessment. With Mike always diplomatic and a kind person, I needed him to taper my opinion. Instead, he concurred, saying, “Well, Jon, he does like to fight his windmills.” When we’re wannabe knights fighting windmills, it’s an impossible dream to reach.

Herein lies the difficulty of anyone who watches Don Quixote fight their windmills. A sense of reality has been abandoned and no one can tell the knight that what stands before him/her is only a windmill, not a giant. Or Don Quixote creates a crisis in order to pretend he/she has the answer to the produced problem. Either way, reality has been sacrificed for drama, and Sancho convincing The Man of La Mancha otherwise is just as futile as Don Quixote fighting the windmills.

Since trying to stop a person from fighting windmills is in and of itself an impossible dream, then redirecting our time and energy into something else might be more beneficial. By focusing on Jesus’ ministry we can solidly ground our own ministries and avoid chasing windmills.

Mark 10:45 is often thought of as the focal point to Mark’s gospel. Jesus, in responding to the disciples who wanted the top places of power in the kingdom, told them that “. . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Two words in this one verse brings discipleship and ministry away from the windmills and straight to its core.

Serve. Jesus didn’t expect people to serve him, but he did his best to serve others. The most explicit moment recorded of him serving is the washing of the disciples’ feet in John 13. Humiliating and degrading, Jesus willingly performs the task everyone else felt was beneath them. Regulated to the low-man on the totem pole, Jesus embraced and modeled servanthood for us. As one cliché nails this moment, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” Serving bridges the gap between what you know and how much you care.

Sacrifice. While Jesus had envisioned his crucifixion when he spoke these words, his entire ministry was cradled in sacrifice. He gave up heaven for earth (Phil 2:5-11). He gave up his time and energy so that he may heal the masses of people who came to him. Day after day he emptied himself so that God might fill him again to repeat the process time and time again.

Service and sacrifice keep ministry and discipleship well-grounded, not to mentioned, humbled. Even if we decide to fight windmills, and the temptation is always present for those battles, perspective and credibility is always built on service and sacrifice. Only then is the dream possible.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)