Dreams

As a child I would have these indescribable nightmares where I was surrounded by this omnipotent force that I did not understand.  It was formless, yet its power was frightening to me.  Now, when I think about it, perhaps the power it had really was nothing to fear other than that it was something I could not fathom.

I am pretty sure we all dream, perhaps every night (and sometimes in the recliner) we all go there like its a distant place that we don't understand the rules of.  Some are memorable while others can be disturbing.  As I've gotten older, I don't really have disturbing dreams and some are downright pleasant and even humorous.

Some troublesome dreams would often involve being in a place that was disheveled and without order.  More than once I would dream that I was at an event and did not want to get up from the table because I was without shoes and sometimes without pants, just socks and underwear.  What an embarrassment.

Just last night I dreamed of meeting lots of pleasant people who I helped do some things and they were so nice and accommodating.  It seems I was lost and couldn't get back to the airport and received plenty of assistance from my new found dream friends.  When I woke this morning, I had the most incredible pleasant feeling all over and whether or not I really did, I thought I woke with a smile on my face.  As I rolled over, I looked at the clock and said, "Good morning, Lord!  Thank you for a great night's sleep."

Over the years the dreams had become more and more fun and entertaining.  Some of my favorites would involve flying at will.  No wings, just willing myself to fly over objects, trees and obstacles.  As it turned out, later in my life, I became a SCUBA diver and a few times I rode underwater scooters.  They were tube like devices with battery powered propellers at the rear that you could hold on to the rear of, press the button and glide underwater at a decent speed turning around and over coral.  Another way to use them was to put the nose of it between your legs, hook the side of your feet and fins to the bottom and blast off, using your outstretched arms to guide you.  That is known as "Superman."  So now looking back, the "Superman" trick was exactly what I had been dreaming of for years.  Night before last I dreamed that I could will myself into a "superman" mode and fly in the air.  I even stepped off the rear deck of my Mom's house and just simply landed on the lawn with no impact.  Lots of fun.

Now, the most memorable dream I had, and recall it often, was that I was off somewhere in a distant city driving around just looking at things to photograph.  I did that quite often in the 20 years of traveling by myself working for my company. *(Thanks, Mr. Jones.)* Each weekend found me in some often sketchy neighborhoods with my trusty Nikon on the front seat.

Anyway,  I had pulled up onto an abandoned service station at an intersection that had long been deserted.  You've seen them before; faded paint on the pumps, weeds growing up in the cracks of the concrete and dirty cracked windows on the building.  There was a sign post that once housed the oil company sign but now was nothing but a rusty rectangle holding nothing more than pigeons.  Most of the buildings around were abandoned as well.

I got out of my car, looked around and noticed the street had narrowed down to just to a little lane that gradually descended by a few feet.  Without hesitation, I followed the path where no more buildings nor man-made structures could be seen.  My walk was so pleasant with no clouds in the sky and on each side of the lane there was only one particular variety of plants dominating what looked like thousands of acres.  

They seemed to be chest high and as the slightest breeze blew, the stalks of the plants would wave the most beautiful and brilliant blue flowers that you can imagine swayed in the gentle wind. It is impossible to describe the beauty and intensity of the color.  Not only were the flowers absolutely breath taking, the little glimpses of emerald pedicels and sepals would flash beneath the blue flowers adding to the sight.  I can't stress how magnificent that field of flowers was.

Knowing no one could understand or imagine those colors, I knew they had to be photographed.  In normal times, that Nikon would have been slung over my shoulder but for some reason, I had left it in the car.   So I turned and headed back up the little hill to the car, unlocked it and grabbed my camera.  As I turned to go back and snap those pictures, I became confused and could no longer find the lane.  It just wasn't there any longer and grieved over it knowing I would never be able to prove how glorious that meadow of flowers were.

I am not a dream interpreter but I somehow like to think that this was a slight glimpse or faint snippet of heaven, that He had shown me just a bit of it and that it was not my time to see His glory.   Also, I had to return to where things of man were corrupt, disintegrating, and would eventually be overgrown by weeds and bushes.  The only way I could see that field (of dreams) again, would be when He calls me home to be with Him forever.