Joseph, like the patriarch for whom he was named, appears to have been a dreamer. Our contemporary culture doesn’t put much stock in dreams and even less in dreams as a direct communication from God. Acting on information received in a dream is simply unreasonable. And yet, as the philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, “love has reasons which reason cannot understand”. Lovers do believe in dreams. Couples dream of a future together. Parents dream futures for their children. God, it seems, has dreams for us – divine dreams united with our human dreams. The prophet Joel promised that the old would dream dreams and young see visions. God’s promise is revealed to us in the totality of our human experience, not simply through our intellect. Joseph’s openness to God’s dream for the world allowed him to move beyond righteousness to grace and to thwart the powers of this world set on foiling God’s redemptive plan.
Being a "good" dreamer ironically requires a perpetual kind of wakefulness. In other words, we have to pay attention. We pray for eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts filled with desire.
Being a "good" dreamer ironically requires a perpetual kind of wakefulness. In other words, we have to pay attention. We pray for eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts filled with desire.
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