I have very vivid, disturbing, frustrating dreams. Almost every night. For instance, just last night I tried to set up a pack-n-play for about half an hour to no avail. (Frustrating.) Later in my dream I was at an amusement park on a ship. June went down a port hole and when I went to follow, I realized the hole was filled to the top with water. I was torn between my aversion of going down under the water in an enclosed space and knowing that my daughter must be down there. Guilt wracked me as I tried to convince myself that it was just part of the ride and she couldn't actually be hurt down there. (Disturbing, see?)
And that is just one night. I could get up almost any morning and tell you my dream and you would furrow your eyebrows and ask if there is something wrong with me. (Most likely.) For this very reason, I tend to hold to the theory that dreams don't mean much; that there isn't some hidden agenda that your sub-conscience is trying to send. That said, I think some people have very profound, moving dreams. My friend Kristen had one such recently. Her blog is private so I asked if I could share. She said yes. I think it is truly fantastic:
Every so often I have a dream that feels profound. Last night, I dreamed this:
I was riding a bike down a crazy busy downtown-New-York-City-type street. Narrow and lined with skyscrapers. I was riding with a zillion other people, like the Boston marathon of bike rides. I knew a lot of the people I was riding with and didn't know all the rest. It was a nice day, and a nice ride. Then abruptly, the road ended, just literally dropped right off and we all rode, before we could realize it, over the edge and into an enormous, dark abyss. I began free-falling through the blackness, aware that other people were falling too, but unable to see or hear them. It was pitch dark and absolutely terrifying. I knew I was dying and I was overwhelmed with fear. Still falling, I finally stopped flailing, and closed my eyes. I said this prayer: "I guess this is the end. I did the best I could. It doesn't seem to make sense to try to do some sort of last-minute repenting....I tried to do my best...I hope it's enough."
As soon as the words of that prayer were spoken in my mind, I landed at the bottom of the pit. But, to my shock and relief, I instantly realized that the entire floor of the immense pit was covered in an eternity's worth of human beings, arms stretching upward, and catching each of us that had been falling. As I landed in a stranger's arms, a thought came powerfully into my consciousness: We are saved by love.
The stranger placed me gently on my feet and I instinctively reached my arms up, prepared to catch the next person falling.
And then I woke up.
Awesome huh? Sweet dreams everyone.
3 comments:
Wow. That gave me chills.
That was an amazing dream. Wow.
My dreams are much like yours and I too don't hold much stock in them. I was talking to my friend in college once about it and he said something that I thought was kind of interesting: he said that he knows that the Lord will answer his prayers in a way that he, my friend, will understand and recognize. Because my friend didn't think the Lord would answer any prayers in his dreams, the Lord will never try.
You know, this was such an interesting post, because I usually don't put much stock in my dreams either, but in the scriptures I read all the time where prophets talk about being "warned in a dream" or talk to "in a dream." I mean, just read about Lehi or Joseph (the earthly father of the Savior one) and they both had dreams that had messages. I'm sure they're not the only ones, too.
And then I have to think, maybe I should pay more attention and try to pull more meaning out of my dreams. It's truly perplexing to me and I wish it weren't. I wish I knew which dreams to take seriously and which to shrug off.
You've brought this to the forefront of my consciousness again. I think that's good. ;)
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