It is interesting to consider the things that are on one’s mind and heart upon arising. Bill was telling me about his dream. It was about real people Just a brief cameo moment in which he recognized them. But it is a family that we hardly know in a distant locale.. It’s odd how the brain picks obscure people or events on which to focus. How do such odd connections serve our brain’s purposes – to process connections, create memories, heal, renew, or solve problems? He asked …me, “Why would I think about them?” I don’t know. Except that this Catholic family with six (I believe) children may remind him of the family of his best friend…a family that embraced him, an only child, as one of their own. He talks to his best friend, who lives out of state also, almost daily. Family is important to Bill. He grieves what our culture’s erosion has done to family. Maybe that one brief cameo dream image of this family is an affirmation of things that are important to him. Faith, family, friendship,
As I awoke what was on my heart and mind was gratitude. Specifically, gratitude for God’s work among his people….not just believers in Christ, but all across the globe. I don’t even know all that God is doing, but I know that God is at work….restraining evil, drawing people to himself, revealing his character to people in a multitude of ways, speaking into situations and persons’ hearts to bring all things into harmony with his will. It was what God put on my heart twenty years ago…to hold forth the hope of salvation for all the earth….as Scripture says, “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!” Bold hope. Confident expectation.