Shine Brightly! (Like the Christmas Lights)

One of my favorite things during the holiday season is the appearance of lights—they manifest everywhere, in trees, yards, on houses, and sometimes in the most unusual places. People line up in their cars, waiting to enjoy light spectacles and shows.

Thousands of tiny bulbs glisten as energy flows through them, bringing smiles and ‘oooh’s’ and ‘ahhh’s’ because of the beautiful, magical atmosphere.

In order for a brilliant presentation to captivate hearts, several things are required—the light bulbs, the network of wires that conduct electricity, the power source, and the creative design.

Let’s examine the metaphor on a personal basis. YOU are the bulb, intricate, colorful, delicate, and radiant. Or perhaps you are that fragrant, scented candle that releases a pleasing aroma and hue everywhere you go.

God is the power source, the fire, the One who infuses each of us with special gleaming abilities. An ancient psalm says that he is 'a fountain of cascading light, who opens our eyes to light." We receive his light, glory and energy, then reflect it--from the inside out.

You are placed by God into a community—in perfect timing--as one small part among many others, where everyone comes together to display variety and magnificence. Connecting with others encourages and strengthens our illumination abilities, especially during times where we feel we’ve lost our spark.

A single light exhibits a special glow, and a bunch of lights together create a powerful, joyful ‘wow’ effect.

One more aspect of this scenario begs to be mentioned—light can only be fully seen and appreciated if displayed in the darkness.

Dark corners are found everywhere—in people’s physical needs, emotional trials, or spiritual struggles. Our lives become more meaningful if we purposely shine where light is most needed.

Perhaps you will recognize these words of Jesus:

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. And now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine!”

Question: Where do you need to go shine this week?

Consider the Source: Wisdom from a Fortune Cookie?

Today at lunch, my fortune cookie told me, “You are the mast of everything situation.” Huh? Everyone else’s cookies said something intelligible and nice. As I puzzled and chuckled about mine, I thought of how my cryptic ‘fortune’ reminds me of ‘prophetic words’ and ‘blessings’ I have received from people over the years.

The people who give them usually mean well, though some are just plain mean. It takes time and energy to interpret and weigh all the voices and messages to the point where you can either understand them and take them in—or reject them. You don’t want to accept something false into your spirit that could harm you, nor ignore something significant from God that would help you. You cannot believe everything you hear.

You have to discern the Source. And examine the ‘fruit’. Is it true? Reliable? Does it produce peace?

Everyone is hungry for guidance, for supernatural direction in life. Some of my friends look to the stars, or ask their spirit guides for answers, some go ‘within’ to contemplate.

Horoscopes are popular with many people, as well as psychic readings. Maybe some folks even consider a fortune cookie a source of wisdom or truth.

Personally, I take my questions and needs for revelation to Spirit, Creator, The Light—who has never led me down a wrong path, though the answers are not always clearly defined. Consulting insightful friends for their perceptions and prayer also helps us embrace the wiser things that will keep us on track.

At the Mint treasury and at banks, the money handlers are trained to spot counterfeit bills by spending time familiarizing themselves with the REAL thing. Once they know how it looks and feels, they can easily recognize the phony money.

Hopefully with practice and experience, we get proficient at determining the source and health of words of direction spoken to us. And be more mindful of our own words toward others.

All of this from an incoherent fortune cookie!

"I'm Hungry! What's For Dinner?" The Eternal Question (this is not a recipe blog)

“Mom, I’m hungry!” “Honey, what’s for dinner?” It is the eternal question that never goes away…what should I fix for the next meal? The answer usually depends on available time, money, and energy level for the meal-maker.

We try to get creative as often as possible, especially when we host company, a party, contribute to a potluck dinner, or we want to treat someone special. Bookshelves stuffed with recipe books indicate our desire to please picky palates as well as build healthy bodies.

Years of cooking and serving can wear on us—we get into a tired, lazy meal rut. Imagination escapes us. We think perhaps it is time to buy yet another recipe book—to inspire motivation and explore more options.

Personally, I get tired of the food routine…plan, purchase, haul groceries, cook them up, clean up the mess, start all over again. Sometimes I wish it would all go away. I easily get into the habit of preparing the same ol’ meals, nothing exciting. Often I get busy and don’t want to bother with the meal thing, but only a few hours pass and then there are….hunger pangs.

It just takes discipline—and a lot of work--to make meals fun and nutritious.

Same thing with our spiritual lives.

How often do you find yourself spiritually hungry? When you feel empty, how quickly do you respond? It seems easy to go through our day taking care of other business, forgetting to take time to enrich our own spirit with long ‘drinks’ to quench thirst and build our strength and stamina with ‘meaty’ meditation. Grab a Power snack!

If we neglect, we pay a price, both short and long term. We turn into bored, boring people, spiritually malnourished. We can’t get far running on the ‘fumes’ of last week’s prayer time. We just won’t have much to pour out because we are empty inside.

The cool thing about this is, God is ever-waiting for us to spend time in his presence. He longs to release a greater measure of refreshment to us, a fountain of continual revelation that keeps us awake, alive, and overflowing. He is the Master Gourmet Chef that never runs out of tasty treats…all we have to do is set aside a little time and ask, “God, I’m hungry, what’s on your menu for today?”

What Color is your Car (and Your Life)?

If you could pick out any new car, and you could make specific feature requests, what would you ask for? What accessories or capabilities are important to you? What color would you choose?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cars and what they represent in our society—and in dream interpretation (of course). They are functional, getting us to where we need to go. They can be status symbols, revealing our taste and level of financial means. In dreams, they represent our job, part of our life, our calling, our ministry.

If we have a yearning in real life for a car other than what we actually own, could it be that in our spiritual life, we are also desiring something different, perhaps something MORE…flashy? Fast? Functional? Comfortable?

Outward pursuits and daydreaming often reflect inward hopes and desires.

I’ve also noticed a strange phenomenon. Here in Texas, at least, ninety-five percent of all cars on the roads are either white, silver, tan, grey, black, red. There are a few blue, and maybe one percent random colors like orange or green or yellow. What is up with this?

If you drive past car dealerships, nearly all car models come in these ‘standard’ colors. Who decides what car colors are ‘in’? The choices are limited, so I guess people buy what is available.

If I want to purchase a new car in lime green or purple, I’m out of luck, unless I want to special order and wait!

Once, I saw this amazing iridescent car—it changed colors with every turn. I hope it didn’t cause a bunch of wrecks because of its uniqueness. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. My thoughts were, "I want to be like that, reflecting Light in surprising and dazzling ways!"

Symbolically speaking, if we are considering launching out in ministry or a new business, we may adopt the thinking that what we ‘build’ has to conform to what is ‘out there’. Or, perhaps we can realize that there are other ‘colors’ that can flavor our endeavors, not just the whites, tans, blacks, boring standard offerings. Too often, we allow people's expectations to limit our imaginings.

We can shape the norm—rattle the status quo box a bit---by courageously displaying our own one-of-a-kind treasures. We don’t HAVE to do things like everyone else. Iridescent and ever-changing is bold, refreshing, and delightful.

If you could pick any car, color, frills, essentials--to offer the world--what would you choose?

My Journey into the Mysterious World of Dream Interpretation

Frequently people ask me, “Why did you decide to study dream interpretation?” They are curious about my pursuit and approach of this somewhat mystical subject. Short story--this is my destiny. Here is a somewhat more detailed answer:

I have always been a dreamer, since I was a little girl. I would dream, ‘see’, hear, or sense events that would actually happen shortly afterwards. I received insight about people in my life that helped me know how to approach them, or whether or not to avoid them!

I grew up in a traditional church group that loved me and taught me important foundational spiritual truths—I am grateful for what I learned and experienced. However, part of their belief system was that God got the world spinning and then ‘retired’…that he doesn’t speak to us anymore.

Therefore, when I dreamed or knew something seemingly supernaturally, I learned quickly not to say anything about it, lest I suffer criticism for using my ‘overactive imagination’. I eventually shut out that glorious Voice, thinking something was seriously wrong with me.

Years later as I worked my way through a healing process, the dreams returned, and there was no denying the fact that God was speaking to me, giving me guidance, helping me mend. What a difference it makes to know the God of the universe loves and supports you! I began to increasingly embrace my Father in ways that stretched my boxed-in thinking of how he really operates in our world.

Problem was, I didn’t understand most of those dreams! For many years I grasped a little wisdom, but I struggled to comprehend, with a degree of delight that he was including me somehow.

In 1996, God led me to a mentor who had years of experience and wisdom in dream interpretation, and I hungrily embarked full tilt into learning and practicing the principles I gleaned in this art of hearing God, thinking symbolically, discovering what to do with what I dreamed. It has been a thrilling, captivating, dreamy pilgrimage that has included interpreting thousands of dreams, training dream interpreters, teaching, practicing, and mentoring. The deeper I go, the more my yearning--for MORE--increases.

Dream interpretation is all about being drawn into a relationship with the Creator, who knows all and sees all, and wants to partner with us to make a difference in people’s lives. He loves us, knows what is ahead, and wants to speak to us about it. I don’t want to miss out on any of that good stuff!

Since then, it has become my mission to deepen my own understanding of dreams (though I still have to puzzle and ponder), as well as to help others learn to decipher Spirit’s nighttime metaphoric love language.

I believe God is revealing his heart continually to each one of us. I pray each one of us can value and understand the treasure of divine revelation that comes through dreams, so that we can walk more wisely and fully into our destiny.

Dream: My Life is Like an iPhone

Last night I dreamed that I was an iPhone, and that I had too many apps installed--they took up all of my memory so that my basic functions were not working properly.

In real life, I do own an iPhone 3G, which I have already maxed out, mostly with music, but also with some apps (a new word in the English language, meaning ‘applications’). Some apps are quite useful, like the GPS feature, my ‘to do’ list that syncs wirelessly with my computer, dictionary/thesaurus, Weatherbug, Baby name meanings (handy for a dream interpreter), and recipe finder.

Other apps are ridiculously silly or pointless, like ‘Dog Whistler’, ‘Turkey calls’, Solitaire (which I never use), Dog screen cleaner (where a dog licks the screen clean). The guys in my family have installed an app game where you win ‘points’ for picking the ‘best’ urinal to use in a variety of settings, a loud FLUSH signaling your victory.

Apple’s website says, “For just about anything in life, there is an app for that.” There are over tens of thousands of iPhone apps available. The question is, ‘How many of them are useful’? Do I REALLY need this?

If I stuff my memory with useless programming, how might this limit or impair the functionality of my necessary basic functions?

Life, in many ways is like the iPhone--highly entertaining, but with a high potential for time wastage, if we are not discerning about how well we focus our time and energy regarding our minds, our thoughts, our schedules. It can be all too easy to allow ourselves to slip away into distracting pursuits and neglect the priorities that make life truly meaningful.

Today, I am weeding out some non-essentials so that I have plenty of memory and energy to tackle my most important responsibilities first. Creative ‘playtime’ can come a little later.

What kinds of ‘apps’ in your life are taking up unhelpful ‘space’ and possibly preventing you from living out your full potential?

3 Myths about Dreams and Dream Interpretation

Understanding dreams and their meanings is a passion for me. Grasping and implementing dream revelation serves as an invaluable tool, empowering me to enjoy life in full color, revving me up to blast through my day with all cylinders fully firing.

A friend of mine says, “A dream not interpreted is like a letter unopened.” But nearly every day I visit with people who are not convinced of the power of unlocked dreams.

Here are some commonly believed myths regarding dreams:

1. I don’t dream. Science tells us that everyone dreams. It is part of our natural functioning during our REM sleep. Our bodies rest but our spirits and minds are still awake and in processing mode. The real issue is you are not remembering your dreams. To bust yourdream drought, try some of these hints to help you relax and remember.

2. My dreams are just pizza dreams—they don’t mean anything. Once in a while, this may be true. Not all dreams need to be interpreted, but all dreams do contain some meaning beneficial to the dreamer. It is important to determine the source of the dream (is it from God, from our own mind, will, or emotions, or from negative forces around us?) We also profit by discovering what type of dream it is—there are many potential purposes for our dreams.

3. My dreams are always just about me. Indeed, most dreams do focus on the dreamer. Nearly all dream interpretation methods make the dreamer the center of the interpretation. However, I believe that God is always speaking to us, even through dreams, and sometimes he gives messages regarding something outside of ourselves—to benefit others. If your dream involves your family or your workplace, or a friend’s quandary, wouldn’t you want to understand, and partner with divine forces for a solution?

For more information regarding dream interpretation myths—and truths—or to get help interpreting your dreams, check out tools, mentoring options, free online dream journal, and resources on DestinyDreamz.com.