Night Time Visitors

Had any night time prowlers lately? Not the ones that invade your home without an invitation. I'm talking about people and happenings that invade your sleep. Come to think about it, I guess dreams do invade our homes without invitations. Like an intruder they can interrupt sleep, cause restlessness, and even create fear and dread.

In my lifetime I've had three very troubling dreams. Sure, I have the same dreams lots of people have, like falling off something only to awaken startled just before I hit the ground. And I don't know what this one means--I'm sometimes getting up to preach only to realize that I'm not fully dressed. O how much I hate to share that one since no doubt someone is bound to conclude something about my sexuality that cannot be positive.

The first dream that really troubled me came maybe 20 years ago when I dreamt that my wife died. I awakened crying with real tears in my eyes. Even after I collected my senses and checked to make sure mshe was beside me, still breathing, it took several minutes for me to calm down. I still fell those emotions. Nightmare it was!

A second dream came several years ago that really troubled me; only my wife knows about it and she has probably forgotten. I'm glad. And then last night another interloper trespassed my rest. It was really bad. I've told no one about it. May never.

I'm not superstitious. I don't believe last night's dream will happen. But I would truly enjoy studying dreams more thoroughly. Maybe someday I will.

So, what are your thoughts about dreams? Does God still speak to us through them? Might they reflect some inner struggle? Do they reflect reality as we'd like it to be? Or maybe they are expressions of our greatest fears? How can God use dreams?

Come on now, don't be shy. How about sharing one of your dreams with the rest of us? And what do you think it means?