Daydreams

"Finishing is better than starting.
Patience is better than pride...
Don't long for 'the good old days.'
This is not wise...
Accept the way God does things,
for who can straighten what he has made crooked?"
-Ecclesiastes 7:8,10,13

This makes me think of one of the few journal entries that can actually be found in a journal I used to try to keep. It was a poem that ended in “I don’t know/ How to let go.” In the midst of moving things I’m not really sure where it is at the moment, but I can tell you that it was sometime in the graduating from Longwood/arriving in China for a “year” time period of 2009. Now here I am in 2011 leaving Longwood once again, but this time for a year in London.

It amazes me how much we as human beings are willing to get lost in daydreams and then when they actually happen we still want to cling to the familiarity of our present reality. Maybe it’s because in our daydreams we control everything. We see our daydreams as safe, controlled environments because those worlds fit our ideals and our friends and family behave as we hope and wish. It becomes our so-called perfect world, whether it be the “good old days” of the past (even though they, too, had their share of troubles that we conveniently “forget”) or our unrealistic future.

We escape into these worlds. But this is not “safe” because in reality we can’t control everything. People don’t always do what we want and events don’t happen as we imagine. Then we become disappointed in reality because we’ve created an alternate reality that can never be true. We’ve created what we believe to be the best and perfect life for ourselves. We’ve created a world where we are God. And this is dangerous.

Satan wants us to do this. We heard this on Sunday: “The enemy focuses on the things you don’t have instead of focusing on what God has blessed you with.” He wants us to “long for the good old days” so that we become depressed with how different today is. If we’re depressed with how different today is because we’re longing for blessings of the past then we miss the blessings of the present. And there ARE blessings of the present. There always are. Just like there ARE blessings of the future. They are better than we can imagine for ourselves because God dreamed them. And if we can’t see them, God is yearning for us to ask him to show them to us.

So is all daydreaming bad? I don’t think so. Daydreaming WITHOUT God is bad. Daydreaming WITH God is good.

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” – Joshua 1:8

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” – Psalms 1:1-2

This word meditate comes from the Hebrew word hagah, meaning to imagine, to study, and to muse. This is contemplation, reflection, and trying to discern the meaning or significance of something. Christian meditation is not the transcendental meditation found in many other religions. It’s fixing your mind on things of God. It can be dreaming with God.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” – Philippians 4:8

Basically, “longing for the good old days” and daydreaming about unholy things (including controlling our own future) boil down to a lack of trust in God. It’s saying, “Hey God, I don’t think you have anything else good for me” or “Hey God, I don’t think you can do any better than that” or “Hey God, I know what’s perfect for me more than you do.”

Biblical meditation is filling your mind with Biblical truths. This can mean dreaming with God about how they have played out, are playing out, or will play out in your life. Daydreaming with God about what he thinks about your life and what he wants you to do is a good thing.

So as I look at my departure date I have three options: long for the good old days and get depressed, try to plan out my ‘perfect’ year and get stressed when it doesn’t happen that way, or ask God to help me understand his dream for this chapter in life and rest in his perfect plan and wisdom. I’m thinking the last one is the better option! So if someone catches me in the other two, please knock me to my senses!!