A Dream That Changes Living

It is now a few minutes past 1 AM. The date is September 5, 2013. I woke from the most profound dream of my 68 years a few minutes ago. Let me share it with you. I beleve you may enjoy it too.



Dreams usually take us where things are not very real. This one was no different, in that way.

I remember that a young lady and I were walking somewhere in a homey, country place. She became tired and found a comfortable ledge about the height of my head along the bottom of a rock bluff to lie down. I stood with my head next to hers, and as she slept I saw myself lightly kiss her lips, which brought a smile to her face as she slept.

Then her mother came to where we were. She had not seen my kissing her daughter. When she saw her beloved child was asleep she said to me, "You may go now. I will care for my daughter."

To this I smiled. Then I said, "She wants me here." 

The mother said nothing, but waited quietly with me. In a little the lovely young lady opened her eyes. She smiled when she saw her mother with a sweet look upon her face, but when my standing close to her next attracted her attention, the look upon her face and the brilliant glisten that formed a shimmering twinkle in her eyes melted my heart. Her mother took it all in. She made no sound, nor did she step closer to her daughter. I remained with my head next to the lovely young lady's head, her eyes shut in sleep again.

Seeing her child asleep again, the mother nodded to me, wordlessly acknowledging both my presence and her daughter's peace with my intimate company. The beautiful dream lasted a bit more, and I was softly kissing the beautiful girl's lips where she lay, as mother watched.

Waking, the thoughts began. At once I saw the symbolic meaning. My walking with the young lady, who I obviously was in rapt love with, and my attentive and adoring mind and behavior to her as she rested illustrated that my devotion to her meant the whole of my life to me. Not only was I just in love with her, it was my deepest pleasure to comfort her, and devote myself to her.

The coming of the young lady's mother represented the responsible nurturing a mother gives her child, even when they are not present with the child. The mother's tender response to first meeting me was respectful of her daughter's choices for relationships. Then, when her daughter opened her eyes and responded with joy seeing her mother near, but her eyes filled with a sparkle of love when she looked at me gave her mother the one thing she desired most for her daughter, knowledge that her child was entering the time of Life her mother labored and worked hard for so her precious daughter would be ready when the man of her Life entered her world. I was that man.

But something far more profound was there in that little dream. For me, at least. 

From my earliest memories, oh, beginning when I was three or so, all I remember is how I only thought of myself. Parenting events in my home years were aimed, I am certain, at training me to be a responsible adult. Yet how I took that training and responded to it formed in my character a completely-self-centric mindset. Where I learned about loving, in my application I twisted it into a means of leveraging to get what I wanted in return. Selfless and desire-less gifting of self to others defines real love, and I was utterly the opposite.

If this short dream had reflected the way of my relationships with my two spouses, the moment the young lady closed her eyes I would have found something to go off and occupy my interests with until she woke and had to search for me. The mother would have found her daughter alone, if that dream reflected my actual relationships through my living to now.


Pondering this, another thought formed. "This is how my relationship with each of my two precious wives should have been - it being my joy and living purpose to give my self to their well-being, no matter if they gave back to me or not." In the moments of the dream I was in my glory as I devoted my whole being to nurture the young lady. In my real living, I was in my pursuit of self as I received all the love and devotion my precious two wives gave to me so selflessly. This stark contrast not only opened my understanding, I began to mourn over the misery I caused these two beautiful women.

Another thought formed. "With my lovely wife now resting in Heaven, and it being now impossible to change my selfish way with and for her, how may I apply the dream to my life, now?" A response that seemed to come directly from my lovely, departed wife entered my mind; "You can apply the dream to your living! Just focus your attention on our Life-giver, and enter His Kingdom with that dream and your devotion to Him and His Kingdom in your thoughts, my dear hubby."

Then my mind recalled its thoughts of the past several days. In these few days a major shift in how I feel and focus on living formed in the thoughts I believe my heart inspired. All my living I've struggled and usually lost, with the self-centric mindset. This effort drains my energy. It also makes me that much less aware of the needs and interests of those I am responsible to, and for, who would benefit from my being a selfless gifter to their needs and desires. Failing them this way I made my own living a remorse-filled memory.

Yes, now I would give anything to return in time to my youth and make my life a selfless gifting to those precious people in it. But, reality denies this return. What now?

An old adage states: "The first day of the rest of your life begins today." It goes along with the idea that "You can't change yesterday." 

That is quite true, isn't it? Yesterday is, well, "yesterday." All my life I was frustrated about "Tomorrow." Lately my thoughts have been more focused on "Today," and it seems like this change is a present from my lovely wife, who left this Earth just 22 days ago, today. Her presence with me seems closer now than during the nearly 19 years of our marriage. We shared so many, many very deep heart-to-heart discussions, and she opened my understanding to the "me" inside like no one before her. But, in the end of our time she found me too much to live with, and her last days were invested with her dear children, which, for me, was a gift I wish I'd thought to give them all of her time with me. She departed still deeply in love with me. That's what counts.



The story you are about to read was penned by my hand during the years 1997 to 2000. My mind formed the very first part, then the story arrived in full force each of the Decembers I sat to pen its parts as a Christmas gift to my precious youngest child, and my wife's first two granddaughters. The story focuses complete attention on devotion to Creator by its main character, a little she-wolf. 

It begins as a fable, then turns to a serious life-reflection of events that threaten entire humanity with extinction. The content still amazes me, as I read each word and sentence, and put the polish to it now. 

Of course, through my living there's been major life-changers, but this story lingers in my thoughts for these years since I penned it like no other memory. I focuses my heart on reality like nothing else. It centers my heart on Creator like nothing else. Perhaps it shares credit with my departed lover for the awesome, life-changing dream I woke from this morning. 

My hope is for this story to so change your focus that instead of self, you see and find complete joy in serving Creator with all your mind, heart, and Living.

claude, papa, and hubby
September 5, 2013




Prelude

In the Summer of 1995, going home one day from church with my wife and her eour year old granddaughter, I was asked, "Grandpa! Tell me a story!"

Being a bit whimsical minded, I let my imagination out to explore silly things. Immediately the classic "Miss Little Red Riding Hood" entered my head, but, Hey! That's too easy! Then seeing a few changes would add at least a few laughs, I saw Miss Riding Hood's Grandma as a wolf, and that, of course, meant the little heroine was a wolf pup!

"Ah! Now I'm on to something!" I said to myself. But, how shall we have "Miss Little Red Riding Wolffe" travel about in this bit of a fantasy?"

That's when a large, very angry mother Brown Bear came into view! I was taken aback, I was so surprised! But, that left our little heroine even more vulnerable, all by herself, facing a Great Big, Angry Brown She-bear!

Enter Mr. Neigh! - Really! What better than for Miss Red Riding Wolffe to have a faithful old horse friend - a "grandpa" figure, to be both her protector, and her transportation! Yet, there was still a missing part of completely satisfying my twisted little imagination!

Mr. Neigh! was old. His means of get up 'n' go had left his poor, worn-out old bones long years before my silly mentality dreamed up the tale, so how could he possibly transport Miss Little Red Riding wolffe all the way to Grandmother Wolffe's house, high in the Cascade Mountains above the deep blue Puget Sound, where my precious wife and her fabulous grandaughter, and now myself, were enroute to our little condo sitting just above the water's edge of this sound?

Bingo! My mind went back to my own boyhood, where my grandpa had an old fliver, painted bright green, no less, and he fondly called his "Green Hornet"!!

Awesome! The last suitable story piece was finally in place! All that took place in Earth Time in a matter of a second, well, maybe two, so almost immediately I responded to my sweet little step granddaughter's request with the start of the "Wild Tale"!


And, a wild tale is turned out to be! Our ride was about 15 minutes' in length, but by the time we reached that lovely respite on the water of Penn Cove, the first part of the story was finished, and satisfied giggles and happy questions about where I got all of that silliness from were coming from a sweet child, and, her grandma!



Ah. Such were those days of pleasant bliss for us. They were to be slammed to a close by angry people with no powers of reason, but, isn't that what real life is all about? Some few scattered moments of absolute bliss, widely interspersed among the Hell of experiencing human will?

So, part of the drastic interruption to our sweet bliss was me being whisked off to incarceration on charges that angry persons with nothing better to do than mangle facts and make grandiose assumptions look like they knew the real Truth chose to do all they could to make me miserable, like they, themselves were, and after twenty plus years, still are.

That was a challenge, for my dear wifey, and her precious granddaughter. The inuendoes and mangled facts confused all, so much so that our little granddaughter grew up and turned against me. Yet, that makes not even a tiny dent in my love and appreciation for her, now in her twenties, and a mother in her own right. Still, there in that concrete and steel-walled enclave, so far, far apart from my beloved wife and step granddaughter, I wanted to share something that would, someday I hoped, make her laugh again, and tell her a little of how much I love her for the awesome person she is.

What to do?

That's when part two of Miss Red Riding Wolffe came to mind!


Well now! That's gotta be a way to make her giggle and jump for joy - Her middle name IS Joy! - I thought. So, I set about to form a second edition of Miss Little Red Riding Wolffe. But, by the time it was ready to send, a Christmas gift I considered it to be, I was seeing a third part that was, that next year, 1999, to become a long, involved tale of events that led to mutiny on Noach's Ark!

Oddly, well, looking back now after 14 years, not so oddly, that third edition took only about 45 days to write its 300-400 pages. It was like I was merely trying to keep up with the mental story as I was listening to it by One Who had experienced it first hand, and wanted me to put it into human script to share with my precious step granddaughter!

But, there was a hurdle much too big for me to leap over, between the intended reader, and myself.


Misunderstanding.


In the years of my absence, and the enormous deluge of twisted information that engulfed this sweet child, separation that became a vast chasm of doubt, fear, estrangement, and confusion twined a dense thicket between her and I. It also managed to entwine itself into my marriage with her awesome grandma, so that our relationship was challenged and suffered many ills. We survived, and yet it weakened my beloved so much that she gave up on Earth Life recently. I can only say that it is with nearly over powering grief I now feel compelled to publish this little story about Good facing the many, determined evils that go against the Living of Earth, yet in the End, Good trumps Evil.

That, dearest step granddaughter, IS the entire message of this story I am about to once again share with you, IF ever you find it here to read, remember our shared moments of "Home," and the togetherness we had with your precious grandma, in the Summer of 1995.


I must share a bit more. In the Way I go in, from my first marriage, after 14-1/2 years from the birth of our third, a precious little, awesome and most charming daughter was birthed, at great expense to her mom, into our troubled home. With her loss to me at age 5, I decided to include this precious daughter of my own as a receiver of this tale. Then, too, there was by now a little sister for my first step granddaughter, so these three sweet little girls each became my "audience." My daughter, also with a middle name of "Joy," never met my second wife's granddaughters, to my knowledge, so perhaps as all are now in their twenties, and hopefully each will find this, they can desire to meet each other.

To conclude. It was, and even more so now, still is, my strongest desire for my precious family to see, and understand that our Creator designed Life for His own Family to be filled every moment with Trust and assurance for His Good and abundant Joy in all we experience, no matter how bad appearances may get. His Living needs to be our Life.

Then, our Life will be His Living as seen by those He leads our path in Life to. Just as in this tale, Master Y'suah's Life is what Creation is all about, and nothing - no Evil - can overcome either Him, or us who are in Him.

This, then, opens the gate into a beautiful story land where Little Miss Red Riding Wolffe, Mr. Neigh!, and Mrs Brown Bear . . . Oh! let's start at the beginning, shall we . . .?

[A Small note: My intention is to eventually have some illustrations for key parts of the story. There are illustration captions at those places, as place holders. Perhaps, as you read the story, seeing the captions will create mental pictures of the characters and their activities.

Just so you know!:-))]