I had a dream last night. There was a man on my porch. I’d never seen him before (except he bore a strange resemblance to the young dad who, with his wife and four little children, sat across from us at Pizza Hut last night). I think I spoke to him from inside my house a couple of times when he was on my dream world porch–he didn’t seem threatening, but still I felt he shouldn’t have been there. Then, he came in without being invited. And, after I told Ellen she should call 911, I made myself wake up. (I have taken to doing that when I am dreaming a dream that is heading in a bad direction–rather than being stuck with that lingering emotional chill that follows that kind of dream when it arrives at the place it’s headed, I choose to wake up…at least I think I do. Can you choose your actions in reality from inside a dream?)
This morning I was reading about prayer, specifically about asking God to take control of our minds. The writer said, “A big part of standing against the enemy of our souls is taking control over our minds. As the Bible says, we must learn to bring every thought into captivity. (2 Corinthians 10:5)…It was an astounding revelation to me as a new believer when I learned that I didn’t have to entertain every thought that came into my head. I had a choice about whether to listen to them or not…”
“Entertain” really jumped out at me there. Just as I chose not to entertain the interloper of my dream, so I may–am called to–reject those thoughts that encroach that do not lead to God getting His way in my life. There are areas in which I’m not so good at this–”Have another cookie”, “Let that cutting remark escape your mouth”, “Do what you want instead of what you should.” But to know that there is a choice–and I can make it in cooperation with the Lover and Defender of my soul–is a very motivating, comforting, and freeing thing.
