Re (3): truth & dreams

Hello again,

I wanted to point something out to you about all that I've written. Do you notice that none of my dreams were overtly spiritual? That to say that whatever spirituality they possessed, it was primarily a carry-over from the wake-a-day world: the spirituality that characterizes my life in the daylight hours. I don't say that God has not spoken to me through my dreams, for I believe He has and that He does. But for me personally, God speaks to me in many ways and few of them immediately obvious without eyes to see. Say for instance that your husband buys you a box of chocolates and a dozen roses. Now there are many lovers who buy chocolates and roses, but there are not many lovers who buy you chocolates and roses—and probably a good thing too, huh? :)

But you see, you might not see your husband's face or hear him speak, but the roses and the chocolates themselves speak to you. (And if he doesn't buy you roses or chocolates, pardon him—surely there is something he does, however clumsy, that makes this illustration work.) In much the same way, I see God in the fabric of much of my daily life and that is one of the primary ways He speaks to me: through things that suggest that He has been there or is nearby. And of course I talk to Him most all the time, all part of that running dialog we spoke about that generally does not get interrupted except by a guilty conscious (just as closeness is momentarily impaired between two lovers when there has been a breech of communication). Of course, running dialogs are sometimes wordless, but no less a dialog for all that.

So then, perhaps it is that you see chocolates and roses all around you, but they fail to register. Not because they are any less a message of the Divine, but because they seem so small and insignificant. It is easy to dismiss the events in our lives as wishful thinking, flights of fancy, over-active imaginations. But the child just climbs up in Jesus' lap and wraps his little arms around His neck and says, "I missed you a whole bunch."

You see, I have a friend who is much like you describe yourself: constantly tearing out his hair because nothing Divine has ever happened to him and wondering if it is because he has too analytical of a mind. He turns on the television, picks up a magazine—listens to his own friend, for goodness sakes!—and he can't hear a thing. Everybody else but him seems to be able to see things and to hear things and talk to God and yet here he is, stuck in his literal world, alone and often miserable. And yet when I talk to him and when I look at him, I see God's fingerprints all over his life. I don't really know why he can't seem to see; it seems almost like he is trying to complicate something or trying too hard or I don't really have a clue. But whether he can see the fingerprints of God on his life or not, that doesn't make those prints any less real. And maybe it is not a case that he lacks the necessary faith; maybe it is that he doubts himself. Maybe he has so long convinced himself that he can't see that he simply closes his eyes in resignation, almost happier with them closed in some kind of peculiar way. At least if he can't see, that is an element of uniqueness; if his mind is too analytic, that is some consolation.

You see, I don't really have the answers either. I have no clue how to help him. Countless hours and conversations later and it doesn't seem like anything has been accomplished. Maybe he really can't see. But I don't really think so. I think it is almost that there is something inside of him that makes him not want to see. That sounds crazy—I'm not even certain I understand myself. But maybe, just maybe I wonder. And if that is the case, somehow I don't think any more introspection on his part will help him see. I don't know. Take my thoughts for what they are.... thoughts. But I will say this much—and I pray that I speak with wisdom—don't give up on trying to see and most of all, don't give up on God even if you never can see.

God bless,
Eric

• Re(4): truth & dreams - By Sara March 12, 2005 at 05:12:12 PM
  • Re(5): truth & dreams - By Karen March 12, 2005 at 07:58:59 PM