Dream a Little Dream

So, some of you out there already may know where this is going... but please, bear with me.

Dream a Little Dream of Me, the song, was written in 1931 - the words we keep in our heads of the song were first sung in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson, but most of us likely hear the voices of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, the Nat King Cole Trio, Sumi Jo, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Michael Buble, Mel Torme and Mickey Thomas, Diana Krall, or some other antecessor of the piece.

 Courtesy of YouTube. Michael Buble.

For me, Dream a Little Dream of Me came to heart as I was a teenager, watching Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Jason Robards, Piper Laurie and the rest of the cast of Dream a Little Dream, the 1989 Marc Rocco and Russell Livingstone-directed Vestron Pictures release that was rom-com with a fantasy twist. It was probably1990 when I watched it the first time, and I'll admit I watched it at least a dozen times that year, renting it over and over again from the local Blockbuster.

Sure, I'd heard the song before then A lot, in fact. But it was with the movie that it began to sing in my heart.

Courtesy of IMDb

Basically, it's a movie of what-if. What if, the dream scientist, Coleman wonders, my wife (Gena) and I can live together forever through a dream meditation exercise? What if, Bobby, the teenager obsessed with classmate Lainie, he can get her to like him? What if she dumped that jerk, Joel, and went out with him instead?

But the what-ifs shift when Bobby and Lainie both run through Coleman and Gena's backyard, and their alpha meditation, colliding into each other, and disturbing the dream experiment. Unbeknownst to any of them at first, Bobby and Coleman switch places, as do Lainie and Gena. The four are trapped together in a dream, while walking around living one another's lives. It is only through dreaming in their dream-state of living life that Bobby and Coleman can figure out how to correct the experimental collision.

So, what does any of this have to do with the color of faith, you might ask? What does it have to do with faith at all?

Dreams are important.

They're so important, they're mentioned 121 times in the Bible. Visions are mentioned numerous times, as well.

While Dream a Little Dream  is more on the paranormal end of things than the supernatural, it gets people thinking about the what-ifs in life, doesn't it? But so can the dreams we encounter every single day of our lives, if we allow them to. As my dear friend, Lisa, says, "It will cost you nothing to Dream and everything not to."

So what is it that constitutes a dream that is from God?

For one, the colors are generally pretty amazing. When a dream or vision isn't from God, the colors aren't as vivid. Sometimes, it's like Technicolor on steroids when we see what God is showing us. This is a great first clue as to where the dream is coming from.

Another really important clue is how you feel upon waking from the dream. If it was a nightmare, it can't have been from God.

Why? Because God is LOVE and perfect love drives out FEAR. If a dream is based in fear, it cannot, therefore, be from Him.

Also, if the dream seems to be coming from yourself... the desires of your flesh, it is more than likely a fleshly dream... that is, a dream you created without help from either fear or love. Sometimes, however, a dream that seems fleshly can be from somewhere else... look again at the hues, the saturation of color within the dream. Are they everyday, or blah, or vivid?

Mark Chironna, pastor of Church on the Living Edge, located in Longwood, Florida, speaks and writes about the symbology of our dreams, and how we all have personal symbologies to keep in mind when interpreting a dream.

So, what do you mean by symbologies?

I'll give you an example... the lion.

According to a lot of Christian dream interpretation, a lion represents royalty, bravery, confidence, and kingship in Christ. It also may symbolize that God is watching over us, as one who sleeps with open eyes. It is often associated with the Lion of Judah, which is a symbol of Jesus Christ's watchfulness and protection over us. those familiar with Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia also know that it can be a symbol of danger. (For an example of a LION in a dream, see Shofar Rain)

These are what people see as a regular symbology triangle. It covers the bases that most people would use for interpretation. Unless you are a lion trainer or safari expert in the Sahara somewhere, or you have lost someone you love to a lion-related accident, this will likely remain the symbology triangle you experience in terms of a lion.

What about a tiger?

Well, for me, this would contain not only regular symbology that is within Christian symbology triangles, but some personal symbology related to someone I used to know.I have personal experience, and therefore personal symbology, with tigers in dreams.

Dream interpretation is as personal as the symbol is to you, and as personal and specific as God shows it to be for you. We as Christians don't always interpret a dream correctly, even with much prayer. There are times interpretation comes much later, so that when its meaning is revealed, it is the right time. This is far from what happens in Dream a Little Dream!

Followers of Christ are meant to be watchful of their dreams, but not obsess over them. they aren't brought into life from some metaphysical or paranormal interest, but from a deepening relationship with their Creator. Dreams can come in the day, or the night; one can have visions that seem to be dreams, and dreams that feel like visions.

We can dream of fleshly things, be attacked by fear and evil, or be honored by God with His Presence so that we can have a better understanding of what life is all about, and what He wants for the future.

UPDATE 7/16/13-- COME OVER and check out my FUNDRAISER! Journey to a Thousand Voices...