Dream A Little Dream

Joseph Dream by Phillipe Champaigne

Since Sunday, I've been thinking about the communication of important information through dreams. Probably because our gospel passage, taken from Matthew, was all about how Joseph knew where to go and when because he kept getting the word via his dreams (funny how this Joseph, the carpenter, and the OT Joseph with his fancy coat had a knack for dreaming their way to safety!)

Dreams, and people listening to dreams, seem to be all over the Scriptures. Every time somebody dreams, they're given a clue or a direction that leads them to do something that is significant to the rest of the story. Think about it: the wise men didn't go back to Herod because they'd been warned "in a dream" to not let the King know, "Hey, we found the kid, and he's something else!" No such dream, and who knows what would have happened, but it probably wouldn't have been "good news".

I know that I have received important guidance in dreams. I realize that may sound very new agey-hippie-dyke-massage-therapist, but it's true. My dreams have spoken to deeper parts of me, and I believe are designed to add another piece to the puzzle that is my growth and understanding of God. I've written several posts already on various dreams that I have had, but one that will always be with me is the one that occurred prior to what my mentor now describes as my "thudding". It's the one where I saw a rapid succession of faces of all kinds: young, old, male, female, black, white, Latin, European, animal, non-mammal etc. They were coming at me so quickly that I didn't have time to latch on to one image for too long. And then, in a strong, deep voice, came the overarching message: "These are the faces of God." And my understanding of the Divine reached a new level of depth.

What have you dreamt lately? And how closely have you listened to those dreams?