Dream, dream, dream

I'm a dreamer. 

I guess I always have been. As a child I sat in my school desk and dreamed of great adventures in faraway places. In ninth grade I dreamed in Mr. McLain's Civics class while looking out the window at the squirrels in the treetops. I find it easy to just take off on a daydream of how things might be, could be, should be.

All this dreaming gets me in trouble, of course. How many times have I been yanked back to so-called reality by someone demanding a response from me? And daydreams can get in the way of getting things done, so I have to remember to set my daydreams aside sometimes.

But there's a good side to daydreams, too. How would we have poets and poetry if we didn't have dreamers? How would we have visionary leaders if they didn't dream a little? Think what a dull world it would be if someone didn't dream up new things for us to think about and create.

I find that my relationship with God requires a little daydreaming now and then. "Thy kingdom come", for instance, really gets my imagination going. What does it mean, anyway? And what about prayer? Isn't prayer daydreaming with God, letting your mind freewheel while listening for something from God?

One of the prayers in the Prayer Book asks God to "fill our imaginations" (p. 832). I love thinking how God might fill our imaginations with all kinds of new dreams and new ideas. In the lesson from Actsthis Sunday, it says that old men shall dream dreams. I like that.

I admit that too much daydreaming gets in the way. But I think God calls us to do at least a little daydreaming every day.