Dream a Dream

Click here to read Isaiah 29

What sort of dreams do you have?  Maybe you dream about spring when the snow is not piling up?  Maybe you dream about going back to school?  Maybe you dream about a world where violence and hatred don't occupy so much of our nightly news.  Isaiah offers a profound insight about our dreams in verse 8.  The hungry person who dreams of food still wakes up hungry, no matter how large the buffet was in his mind.  The thirsty person who dreams of swimming in gallons of fresh water still wakes up thirsty, no matter how long she stays asleep.

While I don't want to knock the power of positive thought, in the end our thoughts are sometimes stuck in our minds and does not become a reality...no matter how much we try to focus on it.  No amount of Jedi-mind-tricks will alter our reality sometimes.  I think this is why consumerism is so big in our world.  My soul may still be thirsty, but at least I have a cola in the refrigerator.

Yet, we don't want to sell dreams short either.  Think back to Joseph in Genesis and the dream he dreamed of greatness.  Or his ancestor centuries later of the same name who dreamed the dream of angels telling him that Jesus was the Son of God.  Dreams are important to our faith and they have limitations, which is pretty much so true of just about everything in the church.  Worship is important and has limitations.  Prayer is important and has limitations.  Mission is important and has limitations.  You get the idea.

The point is not our dreams, but God's dreams, which Isaiah tells us is written on a sealed letter we cannot read.  It is mysterious, which for a person who likes to plan ahead is really frustrating.  Yet, Isaiah does not leave us there.  He proclaims there will come a time when the dream of God is realized. Again, I want to know the timeline and the strategic plan, but it too remains a mystery.  Perhaps not a mystery, as much as it is messy and non-linear, sort of like dreams themselves.

Isaiah's language is not that of Mission, Purpose, or Vision statements so common in businesses and churches today.  Isaiah's language is that of promise and trust.  Promise that God is present, interwoven in our lives.  Trust that even when we don't see or understand, God is present, interwoven in our lives.  May our dreams today open us to that promise and trust; and in that may we sense the traces of God's grace.

Blessings and peace!