Dreaming...

On occasion I will have a dream that is so real and vivid that it is frightening. Last week I had one of those dreams. The whole dream was swirling with emotion so thick and deep that I couldn't wake myself from it, and I couldn't shake the feeling long after it was over. It always makes me wonder; how is it that in my sleep I can feel so deeply? That I can be so affected by gut-wrenching, heart twisting emotion.

The nature of the dream makes me believe that I felt so deeply then because I won't allow myself to feel that deeply when I am awake. And certainly not without reason: Emotion that strong cuts deep...grief, regret, sadness. Heavy burdens.

I really believe our dreams are important. Certainly not in a Sci-fi sort of way...but I look in Scripture and see that dreams were important to God. The story of Joseph is proof-positive of that. Often after a night like last week I have wondered: is God trying to speak to me? Is He trying to tell me something that in my conscious state I am ignoring, or too busy to hear? I don't think it is out of the question that God would use a dream to try and get my attention.

The interesting part of all of this is that my sister Heather had an experience almost identical to mine one night later. Coincidence? I'm not so sure...