(The dream)

As my family and I traveled on vacation in our motorhome, a friend called and said he needed my help on a job.  It was nearby, so I agreed.

We arrived at the vacation home of Val Kilmer, his wife and many kids ( btw, I have no idea if Val Kilmer has a wife and many kids – lol!).  I was a bit in awe of the celebrity and quite nervous about my job which seemed to have no real description other than “helping them”.  They had just arrived and wanted to get settled into their home for a week or two but it was a mess from their last visit at Christmas time.  No one had cleaned up afterward.  There was cake sitting on the kitchen counter that was now like cement, and there were medicines on a shelf from someone’s old cold.  Clothing and shoes were strewn on the floors and furniture.

I threw the cake away and asked his wife about the medicines.  She stated that only one was needed and then turned and walked away from me.

Val suggested we all go to the store and stock up on groceries and supplies.

In the store, I decided to make a salad and asked Val their preferences of vegetables.  He smiled while I was talking but never looked at me and continued walking.  I shared that I wished I had more time to get to know his family so I would know what they enjoyed.  He offhandedly replied ‘it’ll be fine’, and still smiling, he walked away.

I was overwhelmed by the people and the job.  My eagerness to please and impress seemed doomed to failure, making me frustrated in knowing I could do awesomeness when given the right tools.

(The interpretation)

This one was puzzling.  I saw my behavior in this dream and asked Father why.  It wasn’t normal for me.

Father showed me this is a snapshot of religiosity. It’s the religious perspective.  We are eager to please and help.  Just give us all the facts and we will dig in to clean it up and fix lovely meals.

In the dream, I hadn’t been told my job description.  I was operating blind, annoyed, and uncreative.  I was in awe of their celebrity, appalled by their sloppy, dirty habits, and frustrated by their inability to communicate.

My thoughts were about how I wanted time to get to know them so I could address their needs.

But, I wasn’t going to have that time.  This was a short term assignment and I was going to completely fail at helping them if I didn’t change my perspective.

Working in the Kingdom isn’t about US knowing and running the show.  It’s about Father who already knows all the details. He had put me there to use my gifts so I didn’t need to know the details if I trusted Him.  I needed to know my gifts and live my life as usual so He could use me.

I should not have looked at their celebrity.  I know myself.  I tend to find a moment of stress in the presentation of peoples’ positions in society.  Even if it’s just momentary, there is still that second of mental assessment when I hear a title or recognize a position.  That moment is like a hesitation; a moment in which I am frozen and unable to function while my mind plays the CD of everything I know about this person and how I feel about them and their public image.  Whether I like to admit it, my mind assesses what I might gain from their acquaintance.  Ugh!

It’s a waste of time to be stuck in my mental machine.  That machine is not my source of anything because it would manipulate and use people.  It doesn’t have the ability to love and appreciate the person.  This is my old, carnal man.  And I sometimes have to remind her that she is dead.

If there was gain from a relationship, it would be because Father would orchestrate it just as He orchestrated this meeting.  This meeting wasn’t on my radar or within my ability to create.  Those are His creative abilities at work within my world, operating as a result of my unconditional agreement to live in His plan every day, not mine – whether I’m aware of the plan or not (usually not).

Therefore awe of celebrity is actually pointless.  Respect and love of everyone is who I really am, inside Father.

Now I must acknowledge the fact that Val Kilmer was a heart throb of my youth.  I especially enjoyed him in ‘Willow’ and ‘Batman’ and I’m aware that there is a reason Father chose Him as the main character in my dream.  I must be humble enough to look at that aspect.  Val was attractive and sexy and I considered myself able to hold my own in that arena.  In the dream, a bit of that attraction scenario played through my mind when I first met him. I stared at him and wondered if he would look at me and smile.  The question passed and the scenario quickly moved onward, but it was there for a moment.

I believe the point of that moment was to realize that with some maturity we learn to ignore the attraction temptation or we don’t.  If it is still an issue inside us, then it will continue to be a problem keeping us from truly caring for others.  It was a test to see if I could gauge this temptation blatantly, clearly and honestly.  If I subject myself to temptation ignorantly, it is never helpful or caring.  Attraction is not a gift, it is entertainment.  (My 2 cents, lol!)

The greatest, most fulfilling attraction is the one Father gives me.  It surpasses anything a man could ever supply.  That doesn’t negate my attraction to my husband.  But it fulfills that need we all have to supremely attract another.

I have attracted the Creator of the Universe.  He thinks I’m magnificent beyond compare.   Who could beat that?  Certainly not Val Kilmer – LOL!!!

Next was my frustration in wondering how to get to know them in the short time I had.  I thought that getting to know them was the key to doing a good job for them.  But that wasn’t correct inside that scenario, nor inside the Kingdom.

It sounds backwards because we are just learning how to love and care for people in an unprecedented way through the LOVE of Father living inside us as a powerful force we can use to heal and help people.

But we are focusing on the details of people and that is Father’s arena.  He already knows everything about them.  He does not need me to believe I can only help when I also know it all.

However I MUST know the details of my gifting’s and be very comfortable with living and walking in them to the point that I live and breathe them all the time.  They are who I am.  It is how Father uses me.  I am His chiseled paint brush.  Someone else is His palette of colors.  If I am living all the time in my gifting’s, then He is able to paint constantly, wherever I am.

Val’s family didn’t need me to get close to them.  They didn’t even want it.  I was annoying them by trying, because they only wanted to enjoy their lives, their habits and interests.   I was supposed to be assisting them in living their lives to the fullest, but I was getting in the way.  Their final assessment of my helpfulness would have been a failure.

I was taught to intrude into people’s “personal space” to “Save” them from perishing.  I was taught to “get to know” people by pummeling them with questions like: “Are you a believer in Jesus? Tell me about the damaging situations in your life that need to be addressed. Let me teach you the correct way to think about everything in your life.”

For instance, my biggest questioning session in the dream was about food items.  I didn’t think I could feed them properly without knowing what they needed and wanted to eat.  Not true.  If I had prepared several different kinds of dishes that I normally cook, they would have individually eaten the ones they were drawn to and ignored the ones they weren’t.  Therefore instead of trying to design a meal focused on them, I should have created things I like to make and presented them a meal that gave them freedom and gave me expression.  Instead of only steak, salad and chips, I would have added dirty rice and nachos.  I would have been displaying my natural gift of efficiency combined with creativity and it would have been easy because each dish is generally the same ingredients used in different ways.

On a Kingdom level it means I don’t need to know what a person likes to eat spiritually.  I don’t have to ask 50 questions like: do they go to church, or have a family, or deal with problems.  I don’t have to invite them to my house for spiritual interrogation.  In this dream, I was being obtrusive, unhelpful and annoying.  And it was frustrating them and me.

If I live my gifts naturally and openly all the time, it’s like creating a constant table full of food for people to see and eat freely at will.  Being openly caring and loving as I do this, is the only welcome mat they need.

Therefore, for me to live naturally I will speak to clouds when storms threaten.  I will talk to the computers when they malfunction.  I will tell Peace and Kindness to be in my environment and I will invite trapped birds through narrow escape routes.  In other words, I am my gifts.  We are one.  I live and breathe and so do they.

At some point as I go about my normal use of my gifts, someone may ask a question.  But generally they watch and learn to accept me.  They pick and choose from the many dishes I display and eat what they enjoy.

Father does the rest so I’m as free as everyone else.  The dream was an encouragement.  It was the ‘old man’ version of me displayed clearly for me to see the freedom He’s given me and how much better it works.