Dream: Embracing this Life

The other night I had a dream. It was quite short, but it conveyed a powerful message to my heart, so I thought I would share it to whosoever will:

I have never had a dream like this one, but in it Jesus had just returned! Whoo hoo! That glorious Day had finally arrived, and I found myself post-Resurrection! But I didn't get to see what the landscape looked like at the time, and I didn't get to experience the glorious event, but suddenly everything was different. I was different. I said to myself, "This is the first time in my life that I don't feel any pressure! It's gone!" And I had never felt so free on the inside in all of my life. I felt so light on the inside that I thought I might just float away! 

Then suddenly a sobering reality hit me. In the midst of delighting in how good I felt and giving thanks to God that I would no longer be pressed on every side, I had a thought, "It will never be that way again." Yes, on the one hand, it felt good! I had never had a day or moment in my life where I didn't feel my sin or the pressure of the enemy's accusations and condemnations weighing me down. But on the other hand, I would never experience pressure or opposition ever again. All of my days became the sum total of a relatively short season in time - in light of eternity! The "exchange rate" would never be the same again. It would never be so high again. 

I suddenly saw my (pre-resurrected) life so differently. I saw the struggles and the trials and the pressures as precious - not that they are good or holy in and of themselves - but their preciousness lay in the effect they brought about in my heart. They caused me to lean into the Lord's strength. They caused me to press into His heart when I lacked understanding and clarity. Being pressed on all sides was a refining process, a refiner's fire that had worked to not only purify my soul but also to bring about fruitfulness. 

On that day (because it was a dream and the Lord was letting me feel the "sting" of regret) I actually felt regret. I wanted more time. Can you believe that? I was in the midst of perfection, yet my heart longed for the day of toiling under the hot sun pulling weeds, so to speak, because I wanted to be more fruitful. I knew that the time was up, and the tallying of rewards that I would live with for all of eternity was complete, and I wanted some way to rack up more! 

This dream really helped me gain some perspective on the current season that the Lord has me in. I want to squeeze the life out of this season not wishing I were in someone else's shoes or not wishing away these days. I want the current pressures that I'm faced with to cause me to press into the Lord's heart all the more. I want to fix my eyes on things above (Col. 3:2) and what's to come - that glorious Day - because it really will be here in a moment, and when it comes, it comes and there is no stopping it and there is no going back. Oh, to live my life with that eternal perspective! I want to let the refining process of this age purify my heart and cause me to shine making me a vessel of honor for the King - for all time. 

"This momentary light affliction is working in me an eternal weight of glory." -Justin Rizzo's chorus based on 2 Cor. 4:17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."