I had a wonderful dream last night. It was one of those powerful dreams that come when you are half-way between waking and sleeping. It was also one of those special dreams that stick in your mind and stay in your heart.
In the dream I was just a boy again walking through the woods near my Grandma’s home where we all lived together. I came out near one of our big gardens and saw my dad with two, large water buckets watering the plants. I asked him if I could help and he smiled and handed me one of the buckets. It was full of water but light as a feather. The water inside was so crystal clear that it glowed in the sunshine. I immediately started watering the field of wilted plants. The work that I had always hated seemed a joy to me this time. The bucket stayed full too no matter how much I poured. I laughed and smiled as I watered each plant. Some plants sprung back to life with the first drop and seemed to grow a foot almost instantly. Others needed a lot of water and barely grew an inch. Still other plants seemed to shake off the water and stay wilted no matter how much I poured. After a long time watering I looked up and was saddened by what I saw. The garden had grown so big. It seemed to stretch on forever in every direction. I looked over at my dad in despair and told him that there was no way I could ever water all of it. My Dad just smiled back and said not to worry because there were plenty of Children to help. When I looked back I saw that He was right. Over the endless garden there were thousands of boys and girls with buckets each pouring the life giving water on the thirsty plants.
I woke up after that, but I didn’t need Sigmund Freud to tell me what this dream meant. God was just reminding me to keep pouring out His love and light to this thirsty world. It is a lifetime’s work, but there are plenty of us with light heats and full buckets ready to do it.
Joseph J. Mazzella joecool@wirefire.com