Weight of Dreams

My hand landed on a dog’s head and I naturally started petting it. That’s what you do when the dog’s head is right below your fingertips like Olaf, my sister’s mini-horse-sized dog whose head is always at perfect hand height. The head at my fingertips was enough to stir my sleep and evoked the natural response; obviously this must be Olaf since our dogs aren’t tall enough to reach bed level. I continued to stroke his head as a reward for not barking at the other dogs that were gathering to try and get out of the rain. But then I started to wake up a little more gradually trying to piece together how the extra dogs got into our yard, and even how Olaf was at our house. I woke up to find there were no extra dogs from neighbor’s yards, not even Olaf.

I don’t remember dreams that often, but this vivid dream added the sensory element of touch. Logic longs to take its rightful ownership of the brain, and the element of sense brings me back to what’s real. However, it was enough of a struggle that now I was wide awake and it was only 12:30am; a long time before the alarm. I checked e-mail, and wrote back to my niece that I was indeed awake and saw no way that this dream and early hour privacy could even have the consolation of spurring Positively Indecisive. Then I checked in on the blog “Real Life Preacher” whose post read “God Love the Dreamers.” I needed no spurring to read on. I can’t elevate my dream to a stature of importance, but the greater value is considering the weight of dreams.

The book, “God, Dreams and Revelation” questions what has happened to dreams in our modern world that we remember played key roles in the scriptures. Gordon Atkinson (Real Life Preacher) recognizes that our night-time dreams are too difficult to understand and our day-time dreams are too difficult to follow. He was inspired by another post of a young woman dreaming of moving to Uganda and opening homes for children, but not without mingled doubts and fears.

Oh how could He have made me for this? How could something so crazy be accepted by so many hearts? Would people tell me if they really thought my dream was un-attainable? I really can’t do this. It is impossible in every way. I need people to surround me and hold my hands up when they begin to tremble. I need people to speak destiny over my lack. I need people who will begin to pray before my lips form the request. I need hearts that will be strong when mine is breaking. I need people to share this dream with other dreamers. I need Him to break into hearts and catch them alight with His vision. I need Him to replace our eyes with His. I cannot do this as an island. http://handsbuiltformercy.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/703/

My prayer for the congregation?

Holy God, You are wondrously made. In the wonder of our dreams we may delve into a world where we step out of routine into atypical situations. In the wonder of Your dreams, logic is restrained and the uncommon is plausible. Help us to readily dream with You: for others, for growth, for spurring to action. Help us encourage Gabi and others who dream to live in your world where children laugh, the poor are fed, and the unloved find a place out of the rain.