Dreams

Often at the changing of the seasons I have fitful sleeping and deep dreaming. Last night was a perfect example. I had a dream that seemed to last all night. It was a "journey" dream….I traveled from room to room, up stairs, through long hallways. There were many doors in my dream. I kept going in and finding I was not where I thought I was going and the people I expected to find there were replaced by others, many of whom I did not want to see. I am sure an interpreter of dreams could have a field day with these images…..I woke up not feeling very rested…and not particularly wiser from having had the dream.

Dreams play a special role in our scriptures. The prophet Joel foretells the time when "your old men shall dream dreams". Joseph in the Hebrew scriptures dreams all kinds of wild things about Pharaoh and his dreams get him into alot of trouble with his jealous brothers. The Magi in the Christmas story are warned in a dream to go home "by a different way". Jacob saw angels climbing ladders in his dream, received the gift of the land of his ancestors, and declared the place holy…"God was in this place and I did not know it".

Dreams…..they are such a playground of our imagination, sometimes a place to work out the day’s trials in metaphorical ways…….. and sometimes just plain weird!  As I woke this morning I wished I was a part of culture that could interpret dreams because I think my dream may have been significant. Is the Holy still speaking to us in dreams, I wonder?  Have you ever had a dream that guided you in some special way?

What are your dreams, both day dreams and night dreams, telling you these days? Are you receiving affirmations or warnings? Is Spirit speaking to you through your dreams if you listen deeply?

I will continue on my journey today….watching and waiting  for experiences that might bring clarity to what my inner life might be telling me while I sleep.

"Then God came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. And God said, "Hear my words: When there are prophets among you, I make myself known to them in visions; I speak to them in dreams." Numbers 12:5-6