I have had some very weird dreams lately.
I won't bother trying to relate them because the bits I remember make absolutely no sense to an awake, sane individual. But I do recall another dream I had several years ago that also made no sense to me -- until several days later.
by Brett Campbell
It was a series of dreams, actually, three in a row. In the first dream, I was hungry and really wanted some eggs. But I was disappointed because I didn't have any. I opened the refrigerator to see what else I had, and there were three eggs.
"Ha! Thank you, God! I thought I didn't have any eggs," I said, then woke up.
I thought that dream was a bit odd, but I rolled over and went back to sleep.
I had another dream. I wanted to take a shower but was frustrated because I had no clean towels. I opened the cabinet anyway, and there were three clean towels.
"Ha! Thank you, God! I thought I didn't have any clean towels," I said, then woke up.
Obviously, I saw the connection to the first dream, but didn't know why I was dreaming about eggs and towels.
I fell back asleep and had a third dream. I needed to use the bathroom, but thought I had no toilet paper. A bigger problem than towels or eggs, no doubt. I looked in the cabinet and there sat three rolls of toilet paper.
"Ha! Thank you, God! I thought I didn't have any toilet paper," I said, then woke up again.
I had no idea why I dreamed about those things. I had not been worried about any of those things before going to bed.
But the following weekend, it dawned on me. I don't recall what I was concerned about, but it was very important to me and I was asking God to please somehow provide.
That's when I understood. If God loved me enough that He could provide eggs for me, not a necessity, then He cared about my desires.
If God loved me enough to provide clean towels for me, also not a true necessity, then He cared about things that could help make my life easier or better.
And if God loved me enough to provide toilet paper in my hour of need, then He cared about my needs, too.
Not only did He provide in each of the dreams, He gave me more than what was needed. If God loved me enough to care about the "little things," I needed to understand He cared enough to provide for the "big" needs, too.
How good God is! He hasn't let me forget those short dreams. They are as vivid to me now as they were then.
And God hasn't changed. He cares about us, even when we wonder what is happening and why. And when we thank Him for the little things, we become even more grateful for the big things.
How are you going to thank Him this Thanksgiving? Tell Him thanks, and express thanks practically by helping others and giving them a new reason to be thankful, too.
