He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine.” Gen 37:6
This is Josef speaking to his brothers, I know. But it got me thinking. Does God dream?
But first a few words about Josef. When he was born, his mom called him Josef because she had a dream, a hope. Well, even stronger: she believed in something. She called him Josef, God adds that is, because she was hoping that God would give her another son.
And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son. Gen 30:24
Jesus came into this earth so God could have other sons. He paved the way both in teaching us about the father and how to father as well as giving his live. Jesus died for our sins – the outflow of our sinfulness -and overcame sin – the state we were in – so we could be called the children of God. And he taught twelve apostles and commanded them to teach others all that he had thought them so we can grow up to become mature sons and fathers ourselves.
Do you think it is by happen chance that Jesus’ father was named Josef? God’s statement: I will give myself other sons.
Or we can say it differently: I will give myself another son. Christ. He the head and we the body. This was God’s dream all along: to have community with us as his son.
So back to the subject of dreaming.
We dream, and amongst other things, dreams are one of our motivating forces. A dream can be very strong, driving our life forward, helping us focus, giving us a purpose and a goal. A dream unfulfilled can be a source of depression, loneliness, discouragement. Dreams are mighty tools and dreadful weapons.
We are crafted and created after the image of God. That lets me believe that God dreams also.
Dreams often express the desires of our hearts, as well as the fears of our minds. The latter shows me that we do not stop dreaming when we are detached from God’s will, rather they become a creative and destructive tool to express our worries, and moreover, dream up the consequences of our worries.
How much more when we are in the will of God, when our thinking has been changed to align with God’s purpose and way of thinking. Dreaming then becomes a wonderful door to timelessness, infinity, and eternity. Dreams let us surpass any boundary, even time. Much more than our thoughts, because in our awake state reason kicks in.
Subconsciously, we do not use language. Language only kicks in when thoughts and pictures, emotions and inklings, principles and longings surface into our consciousness and form words. Or should I say, create words?
Often, we are at loss for words. How could infinity, timelessness, eternity, how could the heavenly realm, how could even the second heaven as a terrible, hateful, and destructive copy of heaven be expressed in words? Even pictures, yes, even moving pictures with sound lack the multidimensionality and freedom of dreams as a window into reality.
God created words first and foremost as a means of creation. I can see him dream up creation and forming it using words. I can see him expressing his desires, his dreams and thus creating everything. And as his thinker is perfectly in alignment with his will, his thoughts perfectly portray his emotions, and he is fully conscious, he does not fight the same barriers and limitations we do.
Changing our thinking, allowing ourselves to become more conscious of our dreams and the source they spring from, or can I say, allowing ourselves to become more conscious – period – will help us put into words and therefore form, even create God’s will in our dimension.
God spoke you into existence as a carrier of parts of his dream. He gave you the means to create part of his dream, that is. He even made part of his dream yours. He gave us the desires not only of our hearts, but his. And now his greatest desire is to be with you when you create it.
Go dream! Go dream big! And go create!