These are the ramblings of a sleepy man.
“I had the weirdest dream last night.”
How many times have you said that?
Sometimes it is the “wildest” or “strangest” or “scariest” or “worst” dream ever. Occasionally, it might be your “best” or “recurring” dream.
Do not worry. I am not going to recall all the dream details to you. But there is something connected to our dreams that has perplexed me.
Why do we feel the necessity and urgency to tell all the “weirdest dream” details to someone else?
We want to share our latest dream. Why?
The other person doesn’t understand how much your dream means to you. They are not interested and often do not care about your dream.
Why do we insist on sharing the names of the people who made a surprising cameo in our dreams? Why the nitty-gritty details? Why the strange scenarios?
Think about that. Are you ever interested or intrigued about the dream details of someone else? I listen to my wife as she describes her dream. I fake interest just as she does when I relate my repetitive dream to her. Even when her dream fascinates me, my mind cannot rise to her level of interest.
So, what is my point? I do not think I have one. I had a really “strange dream” last night with people from my distant past. There were surprising guests in a surreal nighttime drama.
I awakened with a compulsion to tell someone…anyone. Then it hit me like a dream-filled sack of rocks. Nobody wants to listen to the details of my dream. Nobody.
So, I found myself faced with two choices. Write all the dream notes into this Winsday session to waste every reader’s time and trust. Or ask the rhetorical question on each reader’s mind.
Why do we feel the necessity and the urgency to tell someone else all the details of our latest “weirdest dream ever?”
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I know you want to tell me about your latest dream. I can sense it. The excitement is building up inside of you. You are a Dream-Topper.
Hey! Go ahead. I do not care.
Have you ever awakened from a dream hoping it was reality? That feeling can be thrilling…or horrible?
We cannot control our dreams. I have fallen asleep to California Dreamin’ and awakened to Nightmare on Elm Street.
I have good dreams and bad dreams. Happy dreams and sad dreams. “Wake myself up screaming” dreams and “Please do not wake up from this thrilling” dream.
My dreams have visited La La Land, Fantasy World, and House of Horrors. I love the nights I revisit the basketball gym. Oh, the sweet sound of swish!
Our dreams are expressions of emotions and experiences. They are expressions of our loves, losses, and longings…. our fears, failures, and fantasies. They even awaken our imaginations of a better life.
Some of my greatest thoughts of life and eternity have been lost in the subconscious cyberspace of my dreams.
All dreams are not just about sleep. Some dreams fuel our hope and motivation to be better or do better.
Sage advice exhorts us to:
- “Keep on dreaming.”
- “Chase your dream.”
- “Pursue your dreams and Never give up.”
- “May all your dreams come true.”
Our #1 Textbook records some dreamers.
Jacob’s strange dream involved seeing angels going up and down a ladder to heaven. From the top of the stairway to heaven, the Lord promised Jacob’s homeward-bound journey would be safe and successful.
Jacob’s sons hated listening to their brother Joseph’s haystack dreams. When he told them about his intergalactic dream, they sold him into slavery.
Joseph was the only one willing to listen to Pharoah’s weird dream about fat and skinny cows. That led to Joseph saving the whole world from the nightmare of starvation.
After hearing King Neb describe his crazy dream of a gigantic, beautiful tree being cut down to a stump, Daniel just told the king he was going crazy.
It may be advisable to keep your crazy dreams private.
Daniel wrote down his own wild and weird dream about the future. He thought we might be interested in how this lion, bear, leopard, and strange beast with ten horns would rise and fall as empires in order to introduce God’s Son as the one and only true King of kings with an everlasting dominion.
Solomon desired to tell us all about his dream where God offered him a blank check. In his sleep, Solomon chose “wisdom.” Upon awakening, he discovered God blessed him with everything good anyone could desire.
When the eternal king Jesus entered this world as a baby born in a manger, an angel showed up in his earthly father’s dream to warn Joseph to save his family by getting out of Dodge before a showdown with Herod’s soldiers.
I think my favorite #1 Textbook dream story highlights my hypothesis that we all have this innate desire to share the details of our strange dreams with someone else.
In the Book of Judges, God selects timid Gideon for a monumental task of taking on the mighty Midianite army. On the evening before God used Gideon to free his people from seven years of daily beat downs, Gideon sneaks close to the enemy’s camp to survey the situation.
Gideon overhears a Midianite soldier telling his wild and crazy dream to his buddy.
“I had this funny dream last night about this giant biscuit on top of a mountain. This bizarre biscuit starts rolling downhill picking up momentum until it crashes into our camp and smashes our tent.”
That is a strange dream. Like us, the guy felt he had to tell someone about it.
His buddy could not escape the dream weaver or the big biscuit. Here is where the weird dream story gets weirder and even rises to the level of the weirdest off-the-wall dream response ever.
The other soldier surprisingly states he understands the dream about the big rolling biscuit. Then he unravels his explanation.
“That is not a Pioneer Woman campfire breakfast story. It is more like a Stephen King horror novel. There is this guy named Gideon. His God has given him a gigantic sword. He is going to roll into our camp tomorrow and smash our tents like a big biscuit on a soft egg. Then he is going to take us in his hands, place us all in his mouth, and devour us for dinner. Poof. We are gone…finished.”
Gideon gets excited and courageous about this Top Chef saga. He boldly blows a trumpet and adds some gravy to his breakfast biscuit. The rest is history.
We can understand HOPE without dreaming. We have the #1 Textbook that promises we can live with the confident expectation of seeing all the good God has promised us…Somehow…Someway…Sometime.
On tough days, get a big biscuit and remember Gideon’s story for hope.
Now as to that dream you had last night, I ask again.
What motivates you to share the details of your unusual dreams with others who are more concerned about sharing their weird dreams with you?
Listen to one more detail about my dreams.
Daydreaming is my specialty! Come join me anytime.
EYES UP! LOVE YOU!
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 