Guest Column / Richard Etienne

What messages could be hidden in dreams? They may reveal God’s plans

Do you dream? Are those dreams—as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol believed—just a piece of undigested meat or potato? Or could your dreams be another tool for God to offer direction in your life?

What basis does any person have for suggesting that dreams and spirituality could be linked?

There are many examples of key figures in the Scriptures who were given clear directives in dreams: Joseph, the husband of Mary, was told to not be afraid to marry Mary and then later to take her and the child Jesus and flee to Egypt; Joseph, son of Jacob, whose 11 brothers who was sold into slavery; the wise men, who were directed to travel home by a different route after visiting the Christ Child in Bethlehem. There were more cryptic dreams too, like Jacob wrestling with an angel.

Do you sometimes find that you “wrestle” with decisions? Some people tell me that they don’t dream much.

I believe—like much in life—that there is probably a continuum in the dreaming experience; some dream regularly and some much less frequently.

This is not unlike an individual’s sensitivity to spicy food: some have no tolerance, and others seem unaffected by quite spicy dishes.

After journaling for more than 30 years—and much of that time journaling my dreams—I am convinced that there are many clues from God that surface in my dreams.

The great psychologist, Carl Jung, spent his life trying to decipher the collective unconscious and the role that dreams can play among other psychological issues. In one dramatic “dream,” he changes place with a doctor who, when Jung was ill, says that the world needs Jung. After this dream, Jung begins to recover while his doctor is taken ill and eventually succumbs to a terminal illness.

I believe that dreams are often sent to us to deliver a message—sometimes subtle, sometimes quite overt and straight forward.

Do you dream? Do you take the time to unravel the messages that are disguised in your night musings? Oh, what marvelous plans God has for us! Continue to search for his will in your life.
 

(Richard Etienne has a degree in theology from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad and resides in Newburgh, Ind.) †