Wake Up Sleeper, Open Your Eyes

I've been pretty quiet for the last year to year and a half. I haven't thought much about blogging during this time, but yesterday I thought about how long it's been since I've consistently posted. I'm not sure if 2021 holds more posts for me or not but I thought January 1st is a good day to write one. 

I'm one of those rare people who dream in non-REM sleep. Yes, we exist. You can google it. I dream in both REM and non-REM states. Dreaming in non-REM feels almost like being awake and those dreams, or at least details from them, tend to stay with me once I wake up. Sometimes the dreams are more verbal than visual. This morning my dream included the words "Wake up sleeper. Open your eyes." playing over and over again, and me, even asleep, feeling like God was speaking to me. When I did wake up the dream stayed and I began to ponder. 

You see each year I ask God for a word or phrase for the year. I did this before the whole One Word thing even started. Now I'm wondering if this is the phrase for 2021? I like it if it is. It won't be easy though, because it's an action phrase. Now that I think about it most of the words or phrases He's given me are. But waking up is something I'd rather not do. See I love to sleep! I love to pull the covers close and snuggle in and dream away. Waking up spiritually can be hard too, because, well it means I have to stop dreaming my way. I need to open my spiritual eyes and see what He wants me to see, to dream, to work towards. Waking up means putting aside a sweet dream and living. Getting out of bed and getting started. It means responsibilities and work. It's no longer focused on the dreams I may have for how my life should go but actually doing the work necessary to live the life He has for me. Which sometimes, thankfully, match up with what I dream. (I feel like I'm trying to talk myself out of thinking about this being my phrase for 2021.)

Yesterday I heard a song for the very first time "Spirit Lead Me" song by Michael Ketterer. (It's not brand new, I've just never heard it.) The words line up with everything I've been experiencing lately. When I heard it, I thought for sure that would be my phrase for the year. Now, I need to get quiet and listen to see which of the two, or something completely different, is the word or phrase for 2021. 

Because it's quite possible that it was simply a dream and my cat, Chester, was sending me wake up messages so I would feed him. 😂