Chasing Dreams

At some point or another everyone has woken up in the middle of the night and look around the room wondering where they are, confused by what had just occurred. Our eyes try to focus in the darkness even though we just stare at the ceiling while trying to gather a thought. But after a while we roll on our side, pull the covers a little closer and wonder one or two questions, "What did that mean?" or "Why was it about them?"

Dreams have always been a completely mystery to me. It would not be surprising if one asked a hundred people what dreams actually meant or what was there purpose and then got a hundred different responses. Oddly enough even the Bible tackles the idea of dreams and there purpose. There is the story of Joseph and how he found power and direction in dreams. So does this mean that dreams that come from our sleeping minds have a purpose to how we live our lives? Now in Joel (2:28*) it says, "Your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions." How do we deal with this idea?

Now depending on your opinion of me I might fall into either category (young or old) but for the sake of arguing I will lean toward the old men because I having dreams these days.

My dreams have been haunted lately by a woman from what feels like a lifetime ago. I have only seen her once since I graduated from high school almost 12 years ago. But without fail, for the last three years, I have dreamt about her at least once every three or four months and every time I wake up confused and desperately wondering why her and what I am suppose to do with it. The dreams vary but most times there is a sense that either she needs me or I need her. She is not a old flame thought I did care for her a great deal in high school. I know it is far from romantic hopes. I don't feel drawn to her that way and I am pretty sure she is married (and I want her to be blessed in that).

Then today another strange moment happened. As I looked through a box of things I packed up a few months ago I found a picture of her from senior year. All of my pictures from high school are packed away and have never been near these items, still there her pictures was. What is going on here?? All this even kind of makes me feel uneasy.

I know that her and I had a different kind of relationship. We were not super close but I would have been there in a moment if she needed me and I think the same was true for her. But she was always overshadowed in my life by another girl in high school and now looking back that is regretful because we could have been great friends. Thinking about it at this moment truly leads me to a sense of loss and a touch of sadness. Perhaps these are all foolish thoughts because I want these dreams to have purpose.

Now it is easy to say that dreams have purpose, that dreams can and will show us the will of God, or that they illuminate something inside our heart and mind that needs to be addressed. Yet, how do we get from point A, the dream, and get to points B, understanding the visions of our soul and/or how to act on those with people? And more so how do find the meaning without sounding crazy? Are we supposed to act on the ramblings of our sleeping minds or are we to look past them? But what if we deprive ourselves somethings amazing by never finding the meaning? Is there divine purpose in our dreams, and if there is how do we pursuit it?

Blessings