God said that Joshua and the Israelites needed to rid themselves of anything that was standing between them and God. Joshua went to the people and found a man who had been worshipping idols. The people took that man from the city and stoned him to death. It would be very fair to say that that man was “devoted to destruction”. In fact, that might be an understatement.
Last Saturday I started encouraging dream Saturdays. You can read the first post HERE. As I shared before, I believe that dreaming is a healthy exercise. I think God encourages big dreams. I even encouraged couples to dream together in Monday’s marriage post, which you can read HERE.
Recently Josh had a career decision to make. He wanted to wrestle through it with me. He actually took my advice. He honored me greatly, not by taking my advice, but with a text he sent me later, which said, “You are my new mentor!” He probably was joking, but he doesn’t know how much that comment resonates with me.
I have tried to practice this principle in my marriage. Cheryl agrees with this principle also, but being the one better wired for dreaming, one year I gave Cheryl a set of large letters for her office that simply spelled the word DREAM. It serves as a reminder to her that we want to continue to dream together as a couple.
Moses was used of God to do incredible things for God’s glory, yet Moses, more than many leaders I know, questioned his own abilities. He lacked confidence and would have probably never volunteered for the job. His reasons might have been:
I believe dreams help us heal from negative emotions, stretch our imagination, and encourage us in the midst of difficult times. Sure dreams alone won’t solve the problems we face, but they may help point us towards a positive direction…and who knows…we may just head our life towards attaining some of them.
Getting out of town always provides me with time to develop new thoughts. Often I get into such a routine at home, that I don’t stop to just reflect, ponder, think and dream. I have to be alone, totally removed from my normal comfort zone it seems to really slow down enough to reflect. Yesterday, between sessions, I went for a long run along the Lake Shore Drive. (This is my favorite city in which to run.) About half way through the run, as I was talking to God, it seemed He impressed on my heart that there are new challenges He wants me to consider.
One very simple practice (at least in theory) that will dramatically improve the communication and working relationship between a couple, is when the man and woman begin to give credit for who the other person is, who they are wired to be. When the differences are understood and valued rather than criticized and battled, the marriage is strengthened rather than hindered by those differences.
What if God were a person, who is actually in the room with you, that knows you better than anyone has ever known you, that would never betray you, so you could trust Him with anything, that loves you unconditionally whether you do the right things or not, and that always has your best interests at heart…
The better goal it seems to me is to learn to balance our lives between difficulties, good and bad times, triumph and tragedy, and the feast or famine the world in which we live tends to experience. In fact, I wonder if learning how to balance our emotions between the extremes isn’t the normality we are seeking, rather than periods where everything is calm. When we learn to live in the joy of every moment, normal may seem more attainable.
