I've Seen This One

In my dream I am in a stagecoach or covered wagon with two or three others I understand to be of my party. We are traveling up the side of a mountain, and eventually come to a small town. We stop to get coffee. As we proceed I am aware of a certain sense of deja vu. I have a flashback of seeing the coffee stand I just patronized as a charred ruin. That's because there is a wildfire racing through this area, and we are in its path. Oddly, this does not greatly concern me. I know that the owner of the stand is OK and will rebuild. 

 

When we get back on the road I recall that our coach driver is The White Witch. (I don't know that I ever see her, but in my mind's eye she looks far more like the Pauline Baynes illustration than Tilda Swinton's movie version. Call me old fashioned!) What's more, I know for certain that she will shortly betray us, taking the coach and horses for herself and leaving us at the mercy of the oncoming fire. Again, this is not terribly upsetting to me: I've seen this one. I know we will make it out. 

The White Witch in her sleigh

In fact, I take matters into my own hands. I grab the hand of the girl nearest me and we bail out of the back. I explain somehow that the White Witch is about to betray us and we need to get to safety as best we can. So we start moving down the mountain, looking for shelter. I have some mild curiosity as to where exactly we might find to shelter and whether the firestorm will rage over us and how uncomfortable that may be. I know that we should not try to run straight up slope, as we cannot outrun a fire and will merely use up our own strength. But I am not actually afraid. 

As we go on I observe that the forest on the downhill side of the road is already charred and smoking, but not in flames. The uphill side of the road is still untouched. I start to think that maybe the fire already passed this way and was unable to leap the firebreak. Perhaps that is how we'll survive. I do not know the details. I don't even feel like I should be trying to remember them. I just know it's going to work out.

Somewhere along the road, I wake up. It's 5:30 or 6 am, and entirely dark. But still, I am not afraid. While I remember my dream quite well, I realize it was not technically a "bad" one, because there is no adrenaline, no pounding heart, no lingering and oppressive feelings of doom or even frustration and confusion.  In fact, I fall back asleep in 10 minutes or so and back into what may be part of the same dream - those details are no longer clear - but the general emotions don't change. Mild curiosity, a willingness to figure things out, but no great fear. 

Later in the morning, with the sun up and a cup of MUD/WTR in me, my husband asks how I slept. I tell him I had a fairly vivid dream that should have been bad, but really didn't bother me. It looked pretty bleak, but I knew I'd already seen this one and it was going to be fine. Somewhere in that conversation it struck me: This is why I don't have to be afraid!

Obviously, in real life I haven't "seen this one." But I know Someone who has. He's told me the ending, at least in broad strokes, and it's an awesome one. The good guys win; the bad guys lose. Permanently. What's more, he's promised me a place in it. I get to be one of the good guys! 

There is no script: this is improv, not a rehearsed set piece. And He hasn't by any means promised an easy experience for my character - he really hasn't told me anything specific about what's going to happen to her at all.  But there are hints: plenty of rules and guidelines, warnings and encouragements to keep us on course. Stories about what happened before I came on stage. Explanations about why things look bad and what He's done about it. And always and most importantly, there's that rock-hard, iron-clad promise of a happy ending. 

Was my semi-coherent, piecemeal, and not very linear dream actually a direct message from God? I remain noncommittal on that point. It wasn't a vision, that's for sure. It wasn't prophetic. And as parables go it doesn't hold up very well against the real ones. But I think it did have a message: Keep remembering that you don't have to be afraid. The ending has already been written. It's set in stone, and it's going to be great. Trust the Author.