The Sweetest of Dreams

Yesterday I received a call from my 100-year-old aunt, Amy.

She is the sweetest thing.

A couple thoughts come to mind when that phone rings and I see her number. One is “Uhh, no matter what is going on - ANSWER IT!” The other is “I bet this is about one of her recent dreams.” We like to share our dreams we have about our family members, especially those who have passed on. And as she consistently reminds me, everyone from her childhood has indeed passed on. One of them includes her brother … my father.

Yesterday after answering the phone, she went straight to the point. Yes, she had a dream. This one wasn’t about my dad, but rather it was about HER dad.

She reminded me that she and her father did not have a good relationship. In fact, she grew up with the thought, “Why does my father not like me?”

Oh, she had a couple theories. One was that she wasn’t as good of a golfer as her sister. Another was that her birth marked the end of the supplemental income that her mother would bring in. Whatever the case, she had a lifetime of discord and distance with her dad.

Ever since 1973, the year my grandfather passed, since Amy was 49 years old, she said she carried this pain and resentment. She said, “I was never mean, but I’ve always been mad.”

Well, I guess it’s lucky that time is a construct of the mind and can be molded in malleable ways ... especially in those etheric realms. For it would be 51 years later, within this Thursday morning dream that her father would return to her.

Amy and her father were both on a golf course, interestingly enough.

He approached and simply looked at her and said, “I am sorry for the way that I treated you.” He then gave his daughter a long and loving hug.

Hearing of this moving dream, I asked Amy how she felt. “Relief! I don’t have to be mad at him anymore.”

She said it with a smile.

And I imagine she said it with a heart healed through the everlasting eternal love that does exist between family members, soul tribes, and in this case a father and a daughter.

With Apologies

“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.” 
        ― Brian Tracy

Today I was on the phone with a dear friend. And our conversation led to her saying a phrase I don’t routinely hear in a day. “I had to repent.” Wow. The result of our conversation opened my eyes and opened my heart.

We were talking about her desire to create some short videos for an organization, project, and cause of which we both support. We talked about how people’s short attention span has led to the popularity of brief 10 – 30 second clips on such sites as TikTok.

As we talked, she recalled the time where she was attracted to one short clip, which led to her watching a series of related clips. You know the ole “If you liked this one, we suggest watching this one, and this one … and this one…” You get the idea.

Well, she recalled how a 1-minute timeout turned into one entire hour of being glued to the worldwide webspace.

Her response to this experience?

“I had to repent.”

I thought that was a bit of an odd statement. Repent? What the hell was she watching?

Knowing her, it was of course something pretty benign, maybe even silly.

She then said the magic phrase that hit me deep in my gut and heart. She told me, “I had to say out loud, 'I am sorry Lord for wasting your time.'”

Oh my.

It wasn’t about just wasting time. It wasn’t just about using her OWN time unwisely. But it was about using unwisely the time that God had gifted her on that day. This woman values time in a very elevated way - as a gift from the highest.

She holds time spent not just for her and what she can get out of life, but what she can give to others in the most precious way.

Sure, there is time for fun in life. And yet, if we are aiming towards a higher purpose, each moment can be consciously spent. The gift that this woman gave to me this day was the awareness that my time can be held precious as well.

Thank you God.