These Dreams of Mine
Raise your hand if this whole pandemic has messed up your sleep cycle. Keep your hand up if this pandemic has triggered some crazy dreams. I have a doozy to share. I am only sharing it because I'm pretty sure God sent me this dream for a reason.
Here goes.
When the dream began, I was "at work" in my office. But I wasn't in my workplace as it exists in my waking world. The office was a luxurious high-rise with with floor to ceiling windows in a Center City meets Atlanta type city. As I looked at the windows I could see other buildings. One of the buildings with a tall glass high-rise with a domed ceiling. The other building was a tall red brick building that looks like it belongs on the university campus. All three buildings were in the same block, and in between the three buildings was a large beautiful quad with impossibly green grass.
There was hardly anyone in the office. This made sense because we were in the middle of a pandemic in my dream too. A colleague, who I hadn't seen in months walked in, and I asked her about her new baby. She answered me, but I couldn't honestly tell you what she said. I tuned out. I think I was focused on something else.
After some time passed, several colleagues came into the office. But they weren't working. They were all gathered in the middle of the office talking about going to the quad to listen to a poet laureate who kind of looked like a cross between Spring-Heeled Jack and the Pied Piper.
I was invited to come along, but I wasn't interested. I was trying to get work done.
They all left to go listen to this man. I stayed behind, somewhat resentful that people dropped everything to go listen to this man.
I went back work until the ground started shaking.
It shook in a way I'd never experienced.
The glass domed skyscraper toppled on its side, but the glass didn't break. It toppled on its side and fell in the direction of the building I was standing in.
Then the tall red brick building fell too, toppled just like the other one. This one fell against the window of my building and shook it.
As I backed away from the window, the green quad below shook and cracked open, burping smoke.
Yeah....pandemic "pavor nocturnus" (night terror), indeed.
I remember being out in front of my building trying to get home. The sidewalk was crowded, but no one was panicked. As I made my way down to the subway (no idea why I was taking a subway), I noticed that all the monitors in the subway station were covering what I had observed and other similar calamities all over the the place. No one even seemed phased by what was happening.
As I made my way home, I met one woman. Like me she was trying to get home because of what was happening. We talked about our careers, and she told me about herself. She was in school trying to get a degree in social work. She shared that people told her that her dreams were impossible. I told her that people said the same thing to me, but God had the final say.
I finally got home, but it wasn't my house in the waking world. It was that house from "Father of the Bride." The house next to mine was on fire, but I knew there was no danger posed by the fire.
I walked in and my husband was putting the finishing touches on some upgrades to the house (teakwood floors and an arboretum with a koi pond?). He was the happiest I'd seen him, dare I say joyful. I had an unusual sense of calm and peace despite what I had seen.
I woke up.
What do I think it meant? After I got over the craziness of the dream, I asked God what it all meant. I remembered the 91st Psalm. (Read it in its entirety.)
Being at work, wasn't about work. I think it was a metaphor for "dwelling in the shelter of the Most High." How do we do that? Do what God requires and be about Our Father's work. The poet was a distraction, a dalliance that encouraged people to willingly leave work (the shelter) and go to a beautiful place they weren't supposed to be to have their ears tickled (and poisoned with lies perhaps).
Because they were off task and out of place, they were directly affected when destruction ensued.
The lack of concern, I think, represents people's hardened hearts and deafness to God's voice. God speaks to us, but let's be real many don't want to listen because God's wisdom doesn't mix with the worldly, "I alone can do it/manifest your reality/The Secret" song that's on repeat.
Despite what was happening in my dream, God still gave me a chance to encourage someone else. (This was my favorite part of the dream.)
Here's the weird part about the house in my dream. It's my husband's dream house. When I shared this dream with him and I described the house, he said, "That's my dream house, that house from Father of the Bride." We've talked about this house many times in our 26 year relationship. It's his vision of the ideal house.
This beautiful house of his dreams was the place where we felt calm and at peace, it was the place we "did not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by the day, not the plague that destroys at midday." (Psalm 91:5-6). It was the place "where no harm could overtake" us. (Psalm 91:10).
I absolutely believe that the dream was a confirmation of present truths and and a re-affirmation of future promises for my life, my husband's life, and my family that will come to pass.
I don't share dreams too often, but this one needed to be shared. In these days, dwell in and with God. Be about His work. Flee from anything or anyone that gets you off task and tickles your ears. Ear tickling is the equivalent of pouring a honeyed poison in your ears. It's comfortable and soothing, but the poison sneaks up on you when you least expect it. The lies aggregate. Maybe the lies tell you that you don't need God. Maybe they are criticisms you've heard your whole life that you've resigned to accept about yourself. Maybe the lies are about God himself and the world He created. The point is, the lies of the enemy get you off task. Stay in His Word to protect yourself from the lies.
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