Ow, I Hit My Dreambone

A few days ago, on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech, I posted the question, "Do you have a dream? What is it?" I enjoyed the variety of answers: personal dreams, dreams for society, etc. Some were far-reaching; a few were more attainable.

One thing occurred to me as I read them. Dreams may be aspiring or inspirational, but like the artist's use of negative space, they also outline a deeper pain and longing for resolution and healing. Even the more broad and social dreams contained personal aches and experiences.

Whether small, expansive, personal or social, it's quite a thing that we can ache over what "is" and dream about what "could be" instead, and sometimes even take steps toward a dream.

Do you suppose that this reveals a part of the "Image of God" that we share? Is this what also moves God? God looks at the wounds, rips, and chasms of relationships between each other, between God and creation; God longs and dreams for days and ways that would make it different. For the sake of love and respect, God doesn't force his dreams upon us, but weaves our tattered fragments, and sweeps the messes that we leave toward what will be instead.

That dream he has set before us in "many and various ways." As Christians, we look to Jesus as the embodiment of his image and dream, and the restoration of all relationships.

The Long and Short of It

I wonder if you've heard the word:
That we've boys in first and third?
But how they've lived this long,
or where the time has gone--
Either and both--it's so absurd!