It's like going to the movies for free

I am one of those lucky people who dreams at night in widescreen, surround-sound, full-blown Technicolor. Really vivid stuff. I tend to remember the details in my dreams for quite a while afterwards, and I'm typically able to recount two or more dreams the morning after. My husband thinks I'm so weird. He hardly remembers his dreams, if at all.

Even though I have a very rich dream life, I don't put too much stock in my dreams. I mean, I've heard that our dreams are supposed to be our subconscious "working things out" and I suppose that could be an explanation for them, but I personally think that given the complexity of the human mind, we just can't say for certain what the purpose of dreaming is. Nor do I believe in so-called "dream interpretation". (Joseph's ability aside...Joseph himself attributed his ability to the Lord; he did not claim to have any insight in and of himself.) Yes, sometimes I will have a dream about something that just happened to me, or something that I am looking forward to. For example, I had a dream last night that I was at my little cousin's first communion...which we will be attending this Sunday. I am very excited to be a part of this so obviously I'm dreaming about it because it is really on my mind right now. Nothing unusual about that. On the other hand, there are times when I dream about something that I was not aware of carrying around on my heart; in cases like these I really do think that it is my subconscious telling me something.

I had a dream on Saturday night that is a perfect example of this. I have been trying to decide if I will continue to teach Sunday School next year, or put that aside for now to focus on my Department for Outreach activities. I am torn, because I love both, but I recognize that for the sake of balance I must give one of them up. Saturday night this is what I dreamed:


I dreamed that my grade five Sunday School students were being sent to fight
in Iraq. I was full of sorrow over this because of the dangers that they
would encounter. The children were bewildered by what was happening.
They held up guns without any idea how to use them. So I showed them how
to load and fire their weapons (I don't really know how to do such a thing!) and
I showed them how to protect themselves from enemy fire. I told them
everything I could think of that I thought might help to protect them.
When it was time for them to go, I wished that I had been able to give them more
to arm themselves with, but I had simply run out of time. I cried as each
one was taken away.

Now, I am no expert, but I don't think it takes a genius to figure out what is going on here. I think it's pretty clear that my desire (in my dream) to arm them against the enemy is really my desire to arm them against the Enemy.

The Enemy accosts us from all sides - but we are not without protection. Ephesians 6:10-20 testifies to the Armour of God with which we may be able to "stand against the schemes of the devil". But like the weapons in my dream, we don't always know "how to use" the protection we have been given. We must be taught, by God's Word, how to make full use of the armour that He so graciously provides. Now, I don't mean to imply that there is some sort of "secret" to using the full armour of God, only that it is God Himself, through His Word to us, who reveals how we may take up the full armour of God. And as a Sunday School teacher, this is what I have been charged with: to faithfully bring God's Word to those students in my care, that they may be fully armed against the temptations of the world, the devil and their own sinful flesh.

I still must decide which I will choose, but obviously, these precious little ones are on my heart more than I even knew. I just thought it was interesting how God would use a dream to bring this to my attention.