Are dreams God’s ways of sending us a message? An article in the Kansas City Star today addresses this topic, through the perspectives of two different world religions, Christianity and Buddhism.
“Christians and others who embrace the Bible as the basis of their teachings, beliefs and practices have understood that God was giving guidance, instruction and inspiration through dreams. God is still providing the same today,” writes Reverend R.L. Baynham, pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas.
Lama Chuck Stanford of the Rime Buddhist Center & Monastery, says that “the world we perceive as real is, in reality, dream-like.” Therefore, our dreams help us to “wake up.” He quotes Heng Sure, an American Buddhist monk:
“We must wake up from our ‘dream within a dream,’ before we can know that we are actually sleeping through our lives. After awakening there is no need to dream any longer.”
Here at Guideposts, we hear about all kinds of dreams from our readers. Some dreams were comforting, some were helpful in extraordinary ways, others seemed to warn of imminent danger. Were they only coincidences, or something more? Editor-In-Chief Edward Grinnan recounts one reader’s story, about a dream that helped reunite a mother with her son:
Have you had a dream that brought you comfort during a difficult time, or helped you figure out a tough problem? Did a dream warn you of danger? Did you not understand the dream at first, only to have its message become very clear later on? Send your stories to us at mw@guideposts.org.
