Those Who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream by night.

Edgar Allen Poe
Eleonora

In my daydreams I soared high above all the unpleasant memories I wanted to leave behind.  Flying meant escape from the surly bonds of earth and reaching up for a glorious place of peace and freedom.

I have few memories of a normal family life.  Periodically my parents lived together, and for that short time we were a real family, living in a house as other families do.  Dad went off to his carpentry work, Mother to her teaching job, and Wendell and I to school.  Weekends we attended church, spent time at the beach, or visited relatives.  But all too soon the raised voices and angry accusations began again.  And when life became unbearable, I retreated into my dream world.  It was so much more pleasant than my real world.

To a child, dreams are more than just animated flights of fancy.  They are part hope, part illusion, part pretense, and part prayer.  Dreams carry children soaring high above the anguish of their circumstance into a galaxy where anything is possible.  Dreams take children to a hallowed place, where all that is conceived can be achieved and where all that is envisioned can be accomplished.

Dreams carry within them hope and healing.  The ability to dream is one of the most mysterious and glorious privileges of the human heart.  From the time I was a young child, I somehow understood that dreaming was a gift from God.  Before I knew God personally, my dreams were my only link to him.

My dreams became for me my lifeline.  That’s why to know me, you must know my dreams.  to understand me, you must understand something of their place and power in my life.

Wintley Phipps
The Power of a Dream

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