Take Away the Bad Dreams

The other evening I got home a little later than normal, around the time my kids were going to bed. I kissed them each goodnight, as per their requests. Reese was already half asleep when he uttered, “Dad, can we pray?” I responded, “Sure bud!” and he commenced almost instantaneously.

One phrase has stuck with me ever since. “God, please take away my bad dreams, and Haylee’s, Aby’s, and mom and dad’s bad dreams too.” When he was done, I kissed him on the forehead and said, “Thank you, buddy.”

I’ve heard it said that whether we realize it or not, when we sleep we always dream. I’ve also heard it suggested that we, on average, have several dreams a night. No one may be poorer than me at remembering what I dream about, but I know that when I have bad dreams, I tend to remember them.

Growing up, I repeatedly had the same terrible dream that caused me to wake up screaming at the top of my lungs. Funny thing is that nothing that I remember about the dream itself was really frightening. It wasn’t as if Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees or Michael Meyers were hunting me down or anything like that. The dream that caused me to awaken in terror, night after night, was centered around my being trapped at the bottom of a hill as hundreds of wooden barrells plummeted down from the top. That’s it. No blood. No guts. No creepy figure from the big screen. Just me, a hill, and barrels.

As we experience them, dreams are very real to us. They may invoke any number of different kinds of emotions because they are tremendously powerful. Our minds, the most powerful tool God has given us, are intensely at work. A lot is going on while we dream, stirring up good and bad emotional responses.

So I’m not the least bit surprised that Reese prayed for God to take away his bad dreams. They are no small matter to him, and the depth to which he is affected by them is seen in his desire that God takes away the bad dreams from the rest of his family too!

God can do that. But God can do much more. He can take away the harmful effects of sin- guilt, shame, and emotional pain- by the power of his might. For that I am eternally grateful. But I’m also thankful that he can take away our bad dreams as well!