Have you ever wanted something so bad that you can feel it in your bones? It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning. It lingers in your mind on the commute to work. It springs to the forefront when you take a moment for yourself throughout the workday. You see it – your dream, your wish, your life’s goal – forming in front of your very eyes … coming to fruition … taking shape. You can see it all happening before your very eyes, just how you planned it all along.

Insert Isaiah Thomas. Here is a man who has had dreams bigger than his 5’9″ frame his entire life. Everything he has made for himself has been from his own hard work and sacrifice, from his own pursuit for greatness of what he aspires to be: a winner. A winner on the basketball court. A winner in his life’s legacy. A winner for his teammates.

A winner for his sons, his sister.

What do you have without hope? What can you look ahead to in each day without a goal or the ambition to become BETTER?

The Book of Isaiah teaches us that, no matter who doubts you, or the setbacks – mentally, physically, spiritually or beyond – that may encounter your mind, body and soul – only YOU can determine your reach in this world. Only you can transform your life into what is meant to be.

As we anticipate the start of Chapter Two in The Land of the Wine and Gold, and see this young man biding his time on the baseline envisioning his purpose on the hardwood, picturing his exciting journey ahead and feeling how badly he wants it to begin, we can’t help but to feel that hunger in our own bellies. WE want to see his dreams come true. We want him to reign high in the realm of BELIEVELAND.

After all, as the saying goes, in Northeast Ohio, nothing is given, everything is earned.

Together, our hearts are full and we want it all.