Dreaming in Metaphors?
My dreams are vivid. Not just visual, but in all of the senses, taste, touch, hearing and smelling. I can remember what I smelled in a dream, what I tasted, who or what I touched and what I heard them say. I can see them as if they are right before me in real life.
Sometimes the dreams leave me feeling peaceful. Sometimes I am confused or afraid, like when I visit my childhood neighborhoods in the night time hours and I am either lost or being pursued. Sometimes, though rarely, it is a deceased loved one, and I know they are gone yet here they are before me. [And I shout out "HEY, you're not supposed to be here!" never quite considering that maybe they are not "here" but instead I am "there" where they are.] Other times the dream leaves me sad and upset because either someone I love dies, or it's the one thing I desire and still do not have in my life. And sometimes they seem to come true. Like I'll dream about someone and have them on my mind so I'll make a mental note to contact them but they contact me first. That's always odd! :) Dreams also seem to go on all night for me, like my own bedtime story. Probably only 20 minutes but it feels like hours. And they always affect my mood for the day.
So why do we dream? Is it really our subconcious as the researchers state? Are we dreaming in metaphors, like Seal sings, "Why must we dream in metaphors, trying to holding on to something we couldn't understand?" Or like Heart sings "These dreams go on when I close my eyes, every second of the night I live another life"? Am I trying to hold on to something, and living another life as I dream?
The most frequent of these dreams is being in a loving relationship with someone. He tends to me, I tend to him, we spend time together doing things we both enjoy, we truly love each other...we are in sync, we are one. It's a joyful "feeling". I don't ever see his face but I see his physique, the back of his head, his hands; I can feel his arms around me, comforting me. Once, during the early days of my Christian walk, I dreamt I was in love with Jesus. I assumed it was him, and the ironic part was that he was a carpenter helping me fix a house (seriously!)
So is my subsconscious really desiring a relationship so deeply that I dream it more often than I think it? Yeah, it would be nice, but I don't desperately desire it because I know that it is in God's timing, not mine. And yet my criteria for a partner includes his first love for God so that I can be loved by him as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). So perhaps it's that my soul desires to seek and understand the fullness of God's love for me, and it manifests in my dreams in the only way my human mind can comprehend? Is the idea of a relationship in my dreams a metaphor to GOD'S LOVE AND COMFORT?
That's an interesting point to ponder. If we truly understood the depth of God's love for us, would we go on living as we do without giving him the time we give to everything else in our lives? Afterall, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) And He tells us again, in Jeremiah 31:3 " “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."
Is it possible that these dreams are God's way of telling me that He loves me so much? I think so! He shows me in every possible way, from taking care of my daughter and me through my being laid off, to sending someone my way when I need them most. How great is our God, that in His infinite and gracious ways He shows us just how faithful He is...and draws us to Him?
So now the question becomes how can I stop "living another life" through my dreams, and truly embrace the love God is offering me on a continual basis? It's unfathomable. But I'm so glad that He takes the time to appear in my dreams through metaphors. And the best way to start is by increasing my knowledge of God's character in reading the scripture. Enough time has passed, and I've got a lot of work to do...
Sometimes the dreams leave me feeling peaceful. Sometimes I am confused or afraid, like when I visit my childhood neighborhoods in the night time hours and I am either lost or being pursued. Sometimes, though rarely, it is a deceased loved one, and I know they are gone yet here they are before me. [And I shout out "HEY, you're not supposed to be here!" never quite considering that maybe they are not "here" but instead I am "there" where they are.] Other times the dream leaves me sad and upset because either someone I love dies, or it's the one thing I desire and still do not have in my life. And sometimes they seem to come true. Like I'll dream about someone and have them on my mind so I'll make a mental note to contact them but they contact me first. That's always odd! :) Dreams also seem to go on all night for me, like my own bedtime story. Probably only 20 minutes but it feels like hours. And they always affect my mood for the day.
So why do we dream? Is it really our subconcious as the researchers state? Are we dreaming in metaphors, like Seal sings, "Why must we dream in metaphors, trying to holding on to something we couldn't understand?" Or like Heart sings "These dreams go on when I close my eyes, every second of the night I live another life"? Am I trying to hold on to something, and living another life as I dream?
The most frequent of these dreams is being in a loving relationship with someone. He tends to me, I tend to him, we spend time together doing things we both enjoy, we truly love each other...we are in sync, we are one. It's a joyful "feeling". I don't ever see his face but I see his physique, the back of his head, his hands; I can feel his arms around me, comforting me. Once, during the early days of my Christian walk, I dreamt I was in love with Jesus. I assumed it was him, and the ironic part was that he was a carpenter helping me fix a house (seriously!)
So is my subsconscious really desiring a relationship so deeply that I dream it more often than I think it? Yeah, it would be nice, but I don't desperately desire it because I know that it is in God's timing, not mine. And yet my criteria for a partner includes his first love for God so that I can be loved by him as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). So perhaps it's that my soul desires to seek and understand the fullness of God's love for me, and it manifests in my dreams in the only way my human mind can comprehend? Is the idea of a relationship in my dreams a metaphor to GOD'S LOVE AND COMFORT?
That's an interesting point to ponder. If we truly understood the depth of God's love for us, would we go on living as we do without giving him the time we give to everything else in our lives? Afterall, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) And He tells us again, in Jeremiah 31:3 " “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."
Is it possible that these dreams are God's way of telling me that He loves me so much? I think so! He shows me in every possible way, from taking care of my daughter and me through my being laid off, to sending someone my way when I need them most. How great is our God, that in His infinite and gracious ways He shows us just how faithful He is...and draws us to Him?
So now the question becomes how can I stop "living another life" through my dreams, and truly embrace the love God is offering me on a continual basis? It's unfathomable. But I'm so glad that He takes the time to appear in my dreams through metaphors. And the best way to start is by increasing my knowledge of God's character in reading the scripture. Enough time has passed, and I've got a lot of work to do...
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