Paul needed help. He said that his “ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else” (Romans 15:20). This pioneering spirit lifted Paul’s eyes to the western edge of the Roman Empire. He had to go to Spain.

Since Rome was halfway to Spain, Paul planned to break his trip into two parts. He would travel to Rome, and after rest and fellowship with the church there, he’d continue on his way. Paul made arrangements for his journey by writing a letter (Romans) to the church in Rome.

We don’t know whether Paul ever made it to Spain. If he didn’t, then he died with an unfulfilled dream. Yet his effort was not wasted, for in the process of planning his trip Paul wrote the richest doctrinal book in the entire Bible. Our Christian faith would be impoverished without his epistle to the Romans.

Unrealized dreams can yield their own reward. You may feel that you’re spinning your wheels, that life has not turned out as you had hoped. But if you think about it, the simple act of pursuing your dream has already done much good.

Perhaps you never completed your education, yet you are better off for the classes you took than if you had never started. Maybe you were passed over for promotion, yet your quest for a certain job has sharpened your skills and made you a valuable employee. Your cure may not have come, yet your months of prayer and suffering have drawn you to God and softened your heart for others.

Dreams do much good, even (and perhaps especially) when they’re unfulfilled.