When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
Now, maybe it's because I've been a self-professed dreamer since I was just a kid, but that line woke me up. The kind of awakening that comes when you first breathe in salty sea air, or when you sink your feet into cool water, or when you can open windows for fresh cool air after a winter of being closed in.
I looked up the line in a couple other translations to get a better idea of what the psalmist was going for. Other translations says that returning to Jerusalem felt like a dream. It was such a profound moment of joy and rapture that it was hard to believe it was real. And I certainly can appreciate that. But, I've always been one to march to the beat of my own interpretation with poetry....which led to a few grades on papers that to this day I contest. So for me, to be as "those who dreamed" means something else. Those who dream have hope. Those who dream have vision and imagination. Those who dream may shelter in place, but their hearts are still free to wander fearlessly.
I want to always be someone who dreams. Although it's hard when it feels like life is bearing down. On those days in those seasons, it seems there's no room for dreaming. It's just one foot in front of the other, head down, toil, sleep, repeat. Like Jean Valjean on the chain gang, or Frodo on a ridiculously long journey to Mordor. Oh, sure, my life isn't that grim, oppressed, or perilous. But when the dreams get snuffed out, I feel the parched struggle to just endure.
Dreaming is an integral part of hope. And we need hope to survive. I hear it all the time in the words we speak to each other right now. My own son reminds us frequently, "this won't last forever". It's a one-liner of hope. And he has a pocketful of dreams of things he can do, people he can see, new experiences to have. His hope allows him room to dream.
If you had asked me a couple years ago about my dreams, they were larger than life. Part of me, somewhere deep down, still harbors a bit of those dreams. But my dreams have steadily shrunken. And now, in the midst of pandemic, my dreams seem small enough to fit inside a thimble. I dream of visiting family, of hugging my friends, of going to concerts and baseball games, of dates in busy restaurants and packed movie theaters. The ordinary has become a dream.
Aside from the Psalms, I've been reading The Lord of the Ring for the first time. I've noticed several things. One, Tolkien had an insanely overactive imagination and I'm kinda jealous. Two, he really liked the words "thither" and "ere". Three, hope is an essential for all on the journey and in the struggle against darkness. Four, the memory of ordinary life, or of glory days steeped in legend are essential in sustaining that hope.
When I read Psalm 126:1 the first time, the translation in my Bible said, like men who dreamed. And you know who came to mind? Aragorn. Weary, rough, and wise...he seems to me as one who dreamed. And he's the one I first noticed banging a steady drum of hope in the pages of their journey.
Someday, when the Lord restores our fortunes...when life has returned to at least some semblance of normal if it cannot go back to the way it was.....and I really hope it can....but someday there will be normal again. This sustained time of strain, collective trauma, and sheltering in place will have passed. And we will be like those who dream. It will feel surreal, just as this feels surreal. To do what used to be normal and ordinary will feel like a dream.
But until then, let us still find ways to be those who dream. You must leave room for hope. Make space for dreams, even tiny ones that fit into thimbles. Those little thimble dreams will sustain you until it's time for a new dream.
Which....reminds me of Tangled. But that's an episode for another day. Have you ever noticed how many fairy tale characters are actually on lockdown? I hope to dig into that in the next episode. In the meantime, keep dreaming.
Gather the Good
Books with characters who dream and/or endure isolation of some kind.
Anne of Green Gables
Rilla of Ingleside
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Secret Garden
Also check out The East Pointers on Facebook as they read through the Anne books!
Dreaming is an integral part of hope. And we need hope to survive. I hear it all the time in the words we speak to each other right now. My own son reminds us frequently, "this won't last forever". It's a one-liner of hope. And he has a pocketful of dreams of things he can do, people he can see, new experiences to have. His hope allows him room to dream.
If you had asked me a couple years ago about my dreams, they were larger than life. Part of me, somewhere deep down, still harbors a bit of those dreams. But my dreams have steadily shrunken. And now, in the midst of pandemic, my dreams seem small enough to fit inside a thimble. I dream of visiting family, of hugging my friends, of going to concerts and baseball games, of dates in busy restaurants and packed movie theaters. The ordinary has become a dream.
Aside from the Psalms, I've been reading The Lord of the Ring for the first time. I've noticed several things. One, Tolkien had an insanely overactive imagination and I'm kinda jealous. Two, he really liked the words "thither" and "ere". Three, hope is an essential for all on the journey and in the struggle against darkness. Four, the memory of ordinary life, or of glory days steeped in legend are essential in sustaining that hope.
When I read Psalm 126:1 the first time, the translation in my Bible said, like men who dreamed. And you know who came to mind? Aragorn. Weary, rough, and wise...he seems to me as one who dreamed. And he's the one I first noticed banging a steady drum of hope in the pages of their journey.
Someday, when the Lord restores our fortunes...when life has returned to at least some semblance of normal if it cannot go back to the way it was.....and I really hope it can....but someday there will be normal again. This sustained time of strain, collective trauma, and sheltering in place will have passed. And we will be like those who dream. It will feel surreal, just as this feels surreal. To do what used to be normal and ordinary will feel like a dream.
But until then, let us still find ways to be those who dream. You must leave room for hope. Make space for dreams, even tiny ones that fit into thimbles. Those little thimble dreams will sustain you until it's time for a new dream.
Which....reminds me of Tangled. But that's an episode for another day. Have you ever noticed how many fairy tale characters are actually on lockdown? I hope to dig into that in the next episode. In the meantime, keep dreaming.
Gather the Good
Books with characters who dream and/or endure isolation of some kind.
Anne of Green Gables
Rilla of Ingleside
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Secret Garden
Also check out The East Pointers on Facebook as they read through the Anne books!
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