I had a weird dream the other night and I cannot get it out of my mind. I dreamed I was given entrance to a small room and there were stacks of little white boxes in the room. The boxes were about the size that a necktie would come in. I was told that the boxes contained ghosts and then I was given a large amount of silver bullets, and I was told that the way to kill the ghosts was to let them out of the little white boxes and then shoot them with the silver bullets. I got the impression that the ghosts needed to be killed as they were evil. “Cool”, I thought, “I’ll blast a few of them”.
I grabbed up several boxes and took them out of the room. The first box was rather eerie looking and had a black rose tied to it with a white ribbon. I loosed the ribbon and opened the box. and the ghost immediately left the box and went up a chimney. I could not see the ghost as ghosts are invisible, but I knew the ghost had escaped as it sounded like the wind going up the chimney. I opened several more boxes and let more ghosts escape the confines of the box, before I realized that this is not what I envisioned it to be. I wanted to shoot them with the silver bullets, but ghosts are hard to shoot when you cannot see them. I fired a round up the chimney but am not sure whether I got one or not. I spent the rest of the night trying to figure how to deal with my dilemma and woke up tired and frustrated.
I have no idea why I dreamed this dream, but it did get me to thinking about the things in life that sound like a good idea on the surface but are really not all that they are cracked up to be. There are many dreams to chase in this world. Many of life’s attractions seem like a good idea when we first think about them, but after getting there it is an altogether different story.
When I was young I was always in with the “in” crowd. I was known as “Mr. Cool” as duly noted in my yearbook. I was as wild as they come and many of my peers wanted to walk within my circle of friends. On the outside it looked exciting and fun and a laugh a minute to them. As it turned out my circle was miserable. As a requirement of being “cool” was to drink like a sailor and live a life of hard partying where just about anything goes. That kind of lifestyle results in trouble including sorrow and sadness and the “in” crowd was not spared the misery that follows sin.
As you look at the rich and famous this line of thinking becomes crystallized. What if they were not rich, nor famous? Would they be in choir every Sunday singing praises to the Lord with their wonderful voices? Would they be married to decent God loving – God fearing partners? Would their time be spent raising their kids and taking them to soccer or Lacrosse practice instead of wild partying and cocaine? Would they know peace and quiet and sanity vs. experiencing the heartbreak of a mother having her own children stray away and perhaps OD? Some things in life can come at a steep price; choose your goals wisely.
Get your heart tuned in to God and the righteous things of life. Be careful of what you chase? Invisible ghosts are hard to kill
Luke 12:34
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.