When Dreams Turn Into Prayers

Have you ever woken from a dream, with a bleary-eyed confusion about what just happened but at the same time, laser-focused clarity that God just gave you something to pray about?

No?

Ok, maybe it’s just me. (although, with spiritual greats like St. Joseph, and Old Testament Samuel who also heard God in dreams, I’m feeling okay about this dream thing).

This morning, in the midst of waking, fumbling around to find my phone to shut off the alarm for the 5th time (I’m failing at the “get up before hitting the snooze button” practice), I had this incredible urge to care about my children’s hands.

And in my fumbling, confusion, blurry-waking milliseconds, I wondered “Why should I be so concerned with my children’s hands? Oh, maybe you want me to pray for them, for their safety and their well-functioning? Maybe one or more of my children will need their hands for important work?? Ok, Lord, I’m praying for their hands.”

This experience reads like a silly story. It’s almost embarrassing to type and publish this, and yet I wonder if any of you have ever experienced something like this?

It’s not far off to believe that God already has a plan for my children’s future; because He knows them and knows their strengths and how they can do good for the world. He knows. He knows if their hands will be life-saving hands, will be healing hands, will be hands which cradle His body at Mass. He already has a plan in mind for them to be world-changers! I have to believe that of course He wants me to be a partner in helping them realize their gifts and their vocation, and one way for me to do that is to pray.

Maybe it’s silly to pray specifically for my children’s hands after having a dream. And yet, it can’t hurt. I think I’ll make it one way I begin to more intentionally pray for my children’s present day and for their futures. One of my friends recently asked for a group of us to pray with her for children’s vocations, and it was such a simple but beautiful request. I honestly still can’t believe I never thought of that intention myself. (maybe because I’m usually too busy with the standard “Lord, have mercy!” and “Lord, make haste to help me!” prayers when I’m exasperated and out of ideas to solve the current moment’s dilemma). I think it benefit my heart, too, when I move my prayer from the desperate plea for help here and now to one of hope for the future, and a desire for my children to be cooperators with God in their own lives. I think that shift in my perspective will remind me that these crazy moments which seem like a battle of wills (ok, they are that) are only a small part of the bigger picture, and the bigger picture will come into beautiful focus the more I pray for and with my children.

Lord, may your favor rest upon my children. Bless and prosper the works of their hands, that their lives may give you glory. Amen. (inspired by Psalm 90:17)