A Dream

When I woke up before daylight, I realized that the dream I had just had was a recurring one. I have written about recurring dreams before. In this one, I was in school at Delta State (I have two degrees from there) and taking final exams. The problem was that I had two exams scheduled for the same time. 

I was in a quandary as to what I should do. I showed up for one of the exams. We were outside between buildings. A table has been set up with some gatorade, exams, and pencils. Should I take this  one and then go to the other? Should I go to the other and tell them my problem?

I decided to tell the first one that I was going to go talk to my other proffs and then come back. I went to the Union Building where I thought the other exam might be offered. I wasn't sure where I took the class. How do you forget that? It might have been in the Union. I thought about Bailey Hall. Some English classes were held there after Keithly was shut for renovation. Maybe Ewing. 

I found a school employee at a desk and started asking questions. I could not remember my professors names (there were two of them). I guess I sounded so stupid that she thought it was a come on and she just smiled and said she did not know. She did not spend one second thinking about it or offer to call anyone and inquire. 

Frustrated, I walked out immediately. She could have called the English Department and found out what exams were being offered at that time and where. Then I woke up.

As I said, I have had this dream before. That has often puzzled me. I have three genres of dreams that I have over and over and over. In one of them, it is almost church time and I have not studied. That is horrifying to me. In one particular dream of that type, the cars are rolling in, I had not studied, and my shoes are muddy.

After a little reflection, I realized that this final-exam dream falls into the have-not-studied-to-preach genre. I was not prepared. I had time beforehand to talk to both professors and failed to do so. I had time to review where the exams were held. I failed to do so. So I got myself into a bind that could have been avoided. That's the commonality. 

I don't know why I continually have these kinds of dreams. Maybe it is because one of my biggest fears is not being prepared. When I started preaching, I studied like no one else because I am not a talker, and without study I had/have nothing to say. Add to that the fact that I never feel prepared no matter how much time I spend and you get the perfect setup for some underlying anxiety that fuels reoccurring dreams. At least that is what I think, but who knows. Jesus knows. Thank you, Jesus, for interesting dreams.