Haylie always looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping.

What I Learned In Church

Galatians 3:23-29 (NIV)

Galatians 3:23-29 (NIV)

I’m truly a daydream believer. Daydreamers are geniuses from my point of view. They’re inventors, poets, artists, writers, and kids. I’m also truly a Monkees fan. If you remember, or not, they were a rock and pop band who came on the scene between 1965 and 1971. My entire high school years. Formed in LA in 1965 for a TV series called The Monkees. I love them and I loved their show. Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones. So stinkin’ cute!

Dreams, for me, are so special. Whether they be dreams of life accomplishments or dreams for our children or simply dreams we have at night. I love dreams. I love to watch my children and grandchildren sleeping and wonder what they’re dreaming. There’s such a peacefulness about watching a baby sleep.

Haylie always looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping.

Haylie always looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping.

Buddy Sleeping

And also the peacefulness of my grand-dog, Buddy, when he’s sleeping.

Don’t you just want to know what their dreams look like?

When my children were growing up I kept dreamcatchers by their beds to catch any bad dream they might have. This comes from my Native American Heritage. You see, they are spiritual in nature. We use them to assure that we’ll have good dreams. They are either placed right next to or above the sleeper where light can hit it in the morning. So as my girls slept, all their dreams from the spirit world would pass through the dreamcatcher. But, only their good dreams were able to pass through to them as their bad dreams would be caught up in the webbing and would be destroyed by the rays of the first morning light.

There’s an ancient legend regarding the history and the origin of the dreamcatcher. It exists among several tribes. However, it chiefly came out of the Ojibwe and Lakota nations. Ojibwe people saw spiders as a symbol of protection and comfort. They spoke of a mystical and maternal “Spider Woman” who served as a spiritual protector for the tribes but especially for the children. But then the Ojibwe people grew and they spread out across the land. The “Spider Woman” couldn’t possibly protect or watch over all of them. So she created the first dreamcatcher. It provided a way of protecting them from afar.

Mothers and grandmothers began to weave webs for their children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The purpose of these charms was apotropaic, but also became a way to protect their children from bad dreams. I had one as a child and brought that same tradition to my girls. Now I keep one for myself and use it more for harnessing bad spirits from entering my home. Some might scoff at this. Not me. Here’s my dreamcatcher. I keep it close by.

Dreamcatcher

Some of us are daydreamers some are so down to earth they don’t dream at all. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech always gives me goosebumps. In his speech, Dr. King spoke of Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. He spoke of segregation and “the chains of discrimination.” He spoke against wrongful deeds, bitterness, and hatred. He spoke of dignity and discipline. He spoke of having a dream—“a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” He brought to the forefront freedom and how that freedom would sound. Dr. King was given five minutes to give his speech but he spoke for seventeen. He worked with speech writers and then gave it to the press. “I Have a Dream” was never in it. Mahayla Jackson, who was up on stage with him, yelled at him to tell them about the dream. And, so, he most certainly did.

At the end—not the speech he intended to give. But the speech that showcased his dream.

God’s dreams are always bigger than our plans. I always tell my kids, God laughs loudest when we tell Him our dreams. And it’s so very true. The Bible is the revelation of God’s dream, told by men who wanted to show God’s dream. They wrote through the Holy Spirit who nudged them to tell people about the dream—God’s dream. When we are baptized, we take on new clothing. We then see how God sees us. Once we see ourselves this way, we can begin to see each other as children of God.

God wants us to understand who we are—children of God. Sit with that for a moment. We are all made in the image of a God who loves us. That’s God’s dream. He gives us a gift of identity. We can’t earn it. It’s a gift.  All we need do is just receive it.

You know, Dr. King reminded us that it’s not the color of our skin but the content of our character. My daddy always told me to forever show my excellence. He taught me that the content of my character made me the person God wanted me to be at all times. It shaped how I view others. And how do we view one another? Is it our outwardness or our inwardness? Ethnic, financial status, gender—we see each other this way—God sees us as one.

God assigns value. Therefore, we need to treat each other better if we’re going to live in this world together. The last verse in the scripture mentioned in Verse 29 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” This means God wrote you into the will. That’s the promise. The fullness of life, blessings, joy, love, prosperity, dreams, serenity, peace, unity.

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. Certainly we have dreams of our own. I know I do. But I find I’m more concerned with what God’s dreams are for me.

I find that God whispers in our ear—I want to tell you about my dream.

Do you know what it is?

 

And that’s what I learned in Church……see ya next time!