Dream Again. (Pt. 1)
When we face prolonged tragedy or trauma, the first thing we lose is our ability to dream. I know that is a hefty start, and I earnestly hope it is in no way triggering for any of you. It is, though, factually and anecdotally true. Prolonged tragedy or trauma robs us of our ability to dream, think that things can or will get better, or imagine the world differently or changed. If you study the psychology of survivors—dateline seems to cover something like this regularly—you will see this as a theme.
The heightened stress response, over a long period of time, causes us to push so much of our mental and emotional faculties toward enduring or surviving that the creative, forward-thinking, exploratory parts of our mind turn off almost out of necessity.
If I can be vulnerable for just a moment, understanding this surfaced out of my own story. I told my counsellor that I have felt blocked over the last while. I have felt unable to think or dream about the future. Unable to capture those creative corners of my mind or daydream about more or better. I told her that I used to have outlandish, God-sized dreams like starting schools and Kingdom energising businesses and city-wide gospel ecosystems, but it seems that so much of my energy over these last two years has been geared toward just making it; a lot of the time.
Many, if not all of you, can relate at some level, and why not? Humanity has been through it over these last couple of years. Pastor Rick Warren described the state of things as having weathered five massive storms: Global Infirmity, Social Instability, Racial Inequality, Financial Insecurity, and Political Incivility. As he was unpacking these five storms, he said something that I have been thinking about almost daily since; he said that any one of these is enough to cause heightened tension and prolonged stress, but we have been facing all five at the same time!
Twenty-Twenty started off gully—wildfires in Australia, then we lost Kobe, and then we gained COVID. And as though it was not enough to be in a global lockdown, we faced a summer of repeated and tragic loss of life, which demanded we respond and pour into the streets in protest. Meanwhile, the political climate just worsened, and inflation rose so sharply that the "experts" just gave up on trying to predict the financial future. Gas is six dollars a gallon in California. Six dollars!
In twenty-twenty-one, we gave ourselves the slightest chance to hope, and six days in, we witnessed a televised insurrection, later defended by some of the same people being attacked. Covid spawned variants, and the other storms continued as though on a schedule. Now here we are, facing another year and perhaps too shellshocked to want even to try to dream again, for fear of what might be around the corner. I saw one meme that said, "if we go into another lockdown, I am skipping the learning new skills part and moving straight to the drinking and drugs part." But there must be a better way than meme logic, yes?
If we are Jesus' people, then we have been given what we need not to be imprisoned by the past, paralysed by the present, or perplexed by the future.
Again, if we are Jesus' people, we have been given what we need not to be imprisoned by the past, paralysed by the present, or perplexed by the future.
We do not have to stand frozen in these storms! We have permission to dream and create and innovate and build! We have permission to have God-sized dreams, despite human-sized circumstances. God wants you to dream and to see those dreams fulfilled. Today, permission is granted to dream again, believe for more, desire better and brighter, and trust it all to Him.
What I would like to do for the rest of this post is share with you three life-giving ideas from the scriptures that I hope will spark your dreamer again. In Psalm thirty-seven, the words of David are clear and powerful. The overarching theme of the Psalm is security despite seemingly insecure circumstances.
Yes, we live in a world that often seems uncertain and unstable. Yes, we live in a world where people who do the wrong things get ahead, whilst the righteous seem always to be battling something. It is into this world that David, the great ancient king who is said to have been a man after God's own heart, writes a protest against pessimism. He is convinced, having gone through many difficulties himself, that as long as we trust God, we are secure. Our security is sure because He who keeps us secure is in control of everything, even the things that seem wildly out of control.
In the context of trust and security, David gives us an incredibly life-giving principle.
Delight in God, and He Will Give You What You Desire.
We all come from varying church backgrounds, and when we hear those words, we hear different things. David is not teaching health and wealth; name it and claim it, blab it and grab it theology. But, there are those of us who have rejected the idea of God blessing us, working in our favour, or doing things for our benefit, that even when the Scriptures are clear about God's activity, we get a little antsy. Yet David is, in fact, saying precisely what you just read. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Let's break it down so that this truth will burrow deep in our hearts.
David's statement does not start with what we get; it begins with what we worship. Do not miss it. To delight in something means to be very happy because of it or to enjoy something with the fullest measure of your faculties. David commends that we seek and find our ultimate source of happiness, joy and enjoyment in God.