“To sleep, perchance to dream…” (Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1) “Hear my words: if there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6) According to my concordance, (Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible), there are 22 instances in which dreams are referenced. From Genesis to Revelations, dreams are part of our history. Why, if Joseph had not listened to the angel in his dream (Matt 1:18), we would not have a Christian history!
Now having stated this, I must confess that when I began my studies in Spiritual Direction, I would not have taken the Dream portion of the program had it been an elective. I wanted the concrete subjects which would help me guide my directees in their personal journey with God. But having gone into its study with trepidation, dreamwork soon became, and remains today, one of the most exciting aspects of Spiritual Direction for me. On many occasions, I have witnessed someone experiencing the ‘aha’ of a revelation gleaned from a dream shared in either a dream group or in one on one Spiritual Direction.
And it’s not about this meaning that as in ‘oh, you dreamed about a car accident therefore you’d better be careful while driving’. It’s more about ‘what do you think God is saying to you in this dream of a car accident?’ Is there perhaps an area of [my] life that is out of control?
It is also not about one person telling the dreamer what the dream means. The dream belongs to the dreamer. When I work with dreams I actually preface each comment with the words “if this were my dream….,’ making clear that it is for the dreamer to work out its meaning with God. The feedback simply gives the dreamer a broader view of what the message of the dream might be.
Do you dream? Most of us do. Do you remember your dreams? Try writing them down as soon as you wake up. Keep a pad of paper and a pen on your night stand and scribble down as much of the dream as you can remember. Date it and then keep recording your dreams. You might be surprised at the patterns you discover over time. Find a Spiritual Director or a dream group in your area and get feedback.
Your dreams can open a whole new world into your sub conscious self. For some of us, sleep is one of the only times we are quiet enough for God to be heard. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see what God might have to say?
Sue Hamilton
CSJ Companion