Choose

“Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them. They pick you.” (John Irving)

My family owns an adult card game by Pressman Toys called “Your Worst Nightmare.”  Our family has played it a few times, and we’ve even brought it out to play for couple’s game night. (I bought it for this purpose originally. It was cheap, looked interesting, and was something that my family didn’t own (in the midst of our older games). Here’s a description of the game:

Are you afraid of monsters, clowns, oversleeping, spiders, snakes, public speaking, or hippies? What is your worst nightmare? This is the first-ever card game that’s creepy and fun and designed to help people face their fears. To make this game, we carefully researched the things that scare people the most. Things like flying, failure, germs, the boss, death, mother-in-laws, public speaking, and family reunions. It includes 300 beautifully photographed Fear Cards that depict the scariest, and the funniest fears you’ve ever seen or experienced.

Up to four people can play at once—the winner is the first player to score 13 points by correctly ranking the fears of the other players. You’ll discover entirely new aspects of your friends, family, and your significant other that you didn’t even know existed. But best of all, this game allows for great conversations that help people start the process of facing their fears. Because acknowledging and talking about fears is the first step to overcoming them. It’s the card game that turns fear into fun.

Dictionary.com describes a nightmare as”a terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, [and] sorrow…” Three nightmares I have had frequently in my life involve falling off a cliff (and hitting the ground). When this happens, I actually feel myself hitting the mattress in my bed. Being in high school and the next class period bell has rung. I am late as I frantically and unsuccessfully try to unlock my locker to get something out of it. (Sometimes, a friend is with me in the midst of this chaos.)

My last night mare involves the college I graduated from in my twenties (Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC). In the eighties I had a good experience there.  Being a fifty plus man back in a dormitory is not so pleasant an experience. In this nightmare I utter the same phrase everytime: “oh, no, not this again.”

I don’t know anything about dream interpretation, but I do know that when I examine the dream in the morning (if I can remember it). I realize just how unrealistic and, illogical it was (though it may have seemed real when I was having the nightmare).

Maybe God is trying to warn you of something in the midst of your nightmare.  Job 33:15-18 (ERV) states: He may speak in a dream, or in a vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep lying in their beds.  He may whisper something in their ear, and they are frightened when they hear his warnings. God warns people to stop them from doing wrong and to keep them from becoming proud. He does this to save them from death. He wants to keep them from being destroyed. Carefully examine your nightmares. It could be your heavenly Father has an important message you need to decipher.