Ordinary Eggs

by John Paul Jackson

When I teach on dreams, I instruct the class to record their dreams in different ways. We talk about four methods of dream recording: the cluster method, the diagram method, the intuitive method (drawing the dream), and the spiral method (writing the dream in an ever- expanding circle on the page).

Why is it important to branch out and record your dreams in “unique” ways? It causes the right side, the creative side, of your brain to develop, and you literally come into a greater understanding of dream interpretation simply because you’re doing something new and creative.

In life, this isn’t a one-time exercise. This is something you need to practice over and over again. Some of us argue against doing things differently for no reason other than we hate change. But God loves change. He loves creativity. He loves doing the new thing (Isaiah 43:19; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Therefore, He wants to open up the mind He gave you and utilize it at a larger, deeper level. In a way, it’s like He’s using building blocks. Your mind is being built up and attuned to what the Spirit is saying, what the Spirit is doing and what the Spirit knows, and one day, these new, creative elements inside you will click into gear.

The rest step is the new step—the new thing with God, the new creative outlet, music lessons with a new instrument, the class you’ve thought about taking. You just never know what you’ll discover when you try new things.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This month, I want to get your creative juices flowing. I want to present the idea that perhaps, something huge is waiting on your doorstep, and all you need to do is open the door and find it. Taking a road you’ve never taken before will always bring you through new territory. That’s what new roads do. You see new things. You discover new things. You have different life experiences, and sometimes, you even uncover an ability you didn’t know you had.

My grandmother became a very good artist when she was 80 years old. She had messed around with it for years, drawing a picture a decade, but for the last seven years of her life, she drew all the time. She was a chalk artist, and she never knew she had this gift until she started doodling around, and it started growing. She discovered she had genuine talent, and after she passed away, she won awards because her children entered her work into contests.

You could have a gift.
It could be spectacular.

C.S. Lewis put it like this:

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to y while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

If your heart is burning as you read this article, perhaps it’s time for you to expand your horizons. Choose to be courageous and try. Do the new thing and see what God has in store for you. It might take you by surprise. You might just discover how to fly.