The Magic of Taking Life As It Comes

Have you ever had a dream where, when you took a moment to reflect, you knew exactly what the dream was trying to tell you? Whether you think the symbols and images in a dream are bubbling up from your unconscious or you believe that they are your spirit or God speaking to you, sometimes there’s no doubting that they mean something important for your life.

This morning I had a dream whose meaning was crystal clear. I was driving in a car with my daughter, and I was taking her to school because her car was in the shop, and I felt pressured because I was starting a new job and was running a tight schedule, and traffic was hectic and before I knew it I had missed the freeway exit I wanted to take, and then missed the next one. I was really frustrated and stressed. I took the next exit and landed up in a traffic snarl unsure of where to turn to get moving again.

Trying to figure out what to do next, I got out of the car and started looking around to get my bearings. When I thought I knew where I wanted to go next, I started back to the car and found that Lily had gotten out of the car too. I started looking around for her, thinking about how late I was going to be for work, and saw her talking to Ellen DeGeneres, who was doing some sort of on-the-street movie shoot. They were talking and laughing like they were long-lost friends. At first I still wanted Lily to hurry up and get going, but then with some shame I realized that Lily having the rare opportunity to meet someone famous was more important than my timetable. Once I realized that, I woke up,

Now, I have found that in my dreams, me driving a car always represents me living my life. So the story becomes pretty clear: when life throws you a curve ball, when what you want to accomplish on a certain timetable doesn’t happen, just maybe you need to stop, look around, and see if God is arranging something to happen that’s a lot more special than what you had planned. Planning is good and necessary, but we need to hold our plans with a light grip, because more often than not they slip out of our hands anyway. If we are willing to take life as it comes, we might just see some magic appear.