Dreamscapes and a prayer for understanding.

I live about an hour away from my parents. When I was growing up, relationships within my family were often rocky. My parents divorced when I was 8 years old. My mom quickly remarried, but despite spending most of my time with my mom and step-dad growing up, I have never been close to my step-dad. I wanted to be. I desperately needed a good adult male to look up to when I was a kid, but my step-dad was mostly cold and remote when it came to his relationship with me. He provided for me. I always had enough to eat, clothing, and shelter, and I am thankful for that, but I grew up basically thinking that he just didn't like me, and only did the things that he did do for me because of my mom.

My wife and I went over to visit with my parents yesterday. We had dinner at a restaurant with my mom and step-dad and one of my nieces. My niece is a sophomore in high school. She was talking about one of her English classes. She said she was getting an 87% in the class, but she didn't know how because she didn't really understand some of the readings. I told her that when it comes to classes in the liberal arts, like English and philosophy, if you don't understand the material it is important that you still read it and attempt to understand it. That may be one of the things that her teacher is judging her on- the fact that she is trying to understand and giving an earnest effort to do so.

My step-dad was listening to this conversation. After we finished he told me that he was having trouble sleeping lately due to a recurring dream that he didn't understand. He described the dream to me. He knows that I am interested in dream symbolism and interpretation. I couldn't offer him any good ideas for an interpretation. Dreams are highly personal, and it is more likely the dreamer who can make the most sense of them and discover their true meaning than anyone else. But it occurred to me that he had never reached out to me in that manner before. Relating your dreams to someone is a matter of intimacy and vulnerability in a search for understanding. It was totally at odds with his normally cold and detached behavior toward me.

One year for Christmas I got all of the members of my family a copy of a book by Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist who was heavily involved with understanding dream symbolism and working with dreams to gain a greater understanding of our true being. I knew nobody had read it. But when we got back to my folks' place, I told my step-dad that if he wanted to get some clues to understanding his dreams it would be a good idea to refer to that book and I asked him and my mom if they still had their copies. It turned out that they did, and one of them was located under an end table that my step-dad was sitting next to.

And now a prayer for understanding:

Prayer For Wisdom and Understanding in All Things

Thank You Father for the wonderful way that we have been created in Your likeness – for the amazing way that our bodies and minds function. Lord I pray that You would enable me a deeper understanding of You.. Your will; Your ways and Your person.

Teach me what You would have me do in the place where You have planted me. Help me day by day Lord to fix the eyes of my heart and the gaze of my understanding on You. Use my hands and my feet to lift and carry others and may I walk in the paths that You have set before me and not stray from Your will for my life..

Lord I pray that the thoughts of my mind would be continuously upon You, so that I may speak only those things that are pleasing to You and think only those thoughts are honouring to Your name. I ask this in the name of Jesus,

Amen

(Prayer taken from https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-for-Understanding )