A Dream of Acrobats

Practice. Persistence. Dependency. Joy. Acrobats illustrate so well the life of the Spirit, the life lived in, with and for God. It takes tons of practice to make sure that all the elements are there to keep each one safe and that each acrobat is in the right place at the right time catching, releasing, mirroring. In the spiritual life we would call this the experience of God, having practiced listening for God’s word in our lives through spiritual practices, especially silence, we are able to be in the right place at the right time listening all the while for the prompting of God’s Spirit.

       So we are practiced. And, of course, persistent in that practice. We are dependent on the Other, we are co-creating our lives with God, mirroring God’s love, catching his plan, releasing our own, always learning how to be with God in every situation and person we encounter. Like an acrobatic team we work in tandem, back and forth, over and under, up and down. No matter the position, we follow our routine to the nth degree. This is the way of the experience of God in our lives.

       And, oh the joy! What we have worked so hard to learn—how God wants to be in us and with us—is now a joy as every move is met by the Other, every gesture mirrored in God, every note we sing or word we say coming to mind just as we need it. We practice listening and being open to God’s suggestion in our lives and we receive the gift of joy as we express that suggestion.

       The acrobats came to me in a dream last June: six acrobats were performing amazing feats in a circus setting, all totally dependent on each other for safety and for the beauty of what they did. Not one stood out from the others as the star, they all were essential to the act. They were brought together by my mother, a glittering woman. Even in my sleep I could feel the joy that dreaming this dream brought me. I realized upon awakening that I had reached the stage in my spiritual journey where God and I were so practiced together that I know that God would make sure I had just what I needed at any moment in time—the right word to say, the right person and what they brought me, the road to take, the next book to read or movie to see and on and on.

       I no longer have to depend on my own resources to make something happen. The dream was prophetic: six months later I am still incorporating the lesson from the dream that God will deliver what I need every time. I don’t have to make something happen, I don’t have to have the right words or do the right thing: I am not on my own. I am enough. I had known that in my mind before the dream, but now I am learning how to live it from my heart.