I can’t finger-spell in Hebrew!

Yep… dreaming! The kind that feels a lot like scrap quilting!

First, a word… Comfort.

Then, a few more words… Comfort. Comfort my people.

Then, a bit of kinesthetic input. Pee! Thus, a quick trip down the hall, and a climb back into bed, for my dream wanted to be sure I’d remember.

I felt a bit like Nancy Drew, with a mystery. One of my favorite tricks for capturing dream messages is finger-spelling.

When I was in fourth grade, we lived near Chicago and a neighbor, whose dad taught hearing impaired students, taught me the alphabet in American Sign Language. Through the years, I learned some words as well… most of them of either the pre-school or 4-letter sort. For dreaming, though, it’s finger-spelling. Like Comfort.

A bit later – about half way through my first cup of tea – I went hunting the Hebrew. As I guessed, there are several variations. The one that was looking for me is pronounced nakham. And it means comfort that comes out of sorrow!

And that led me to Joan Baez, singing Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I know. This all sounds a bit strange. It’s just the way things work for me, especially when Grandmother Moon is in charge of the dreaming.

By the time I finished my second cup of tea, my #Legend work-in-progress painting joined the party, insisting that we add a blue moon to the canvas. More research was in order!

Turns out that blue moons are rare – as in once in a blue moon – and can symbolize transformation and growth. Also a time for renewed opportunities and second chances!!!

And, yes… this is still more stuff we didn’t cover in nursing school or seminary! I like learning new things!

Apparently, my #Legend painting does, too! At the very least, we’re claiming new questions, like:

What meaning might we make from such a dream at such a time???

Here’s my best understanding, after wandering with some wise women and doing more thinking with paint…

Almost all of us could use some comfort in this moment. Even those of us who haven’t realized it yet!

In order for it to be real, more of that comfort is going to need to bloom out of the place where sorrow and determination join to create newness, than out of hiding or bingeing on shortbread cookies.

One power-full way to start is by acknowledging and releasing what we’re really feeling. Paint… Poetry…. Screaming in the shower… Crying on the beach…

Then, hang words on one step forward. Nap. Hug. Contribution. Conversation about options.

Then, when you’re ready… questions. Could you? Would you? When?

By this point, we’re already wiser and, quite probably, less stuck! And, quite possibly, ready for a nap! (Yep! Projection!!!)

One more big thing… according to hebrewwordlessons.com, the words comfort and rest come from the same root! And, as one student of the sacred stories – St. Hildegard of Bingen – explained it:

God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God.

Which isn’t a bad place to start if we’re dreaming of comfort, no matter our languages or traditions!

Courage seems like a decent next step, so… here she is! My nowhere near finished teacher named #Legend…

ps… here’s another next step, especially if you care about helping our Littles feel like they belong! A glimpse of my new book: A Creation Poem… “Creator looked on their world with all its living things, and Creator said, ‘We’re lonely, still.’ Then Creator sat down on the side of a hill where they could think. By a deep, wide river they sat down with their head in their hands. Creator thought and thought, ’til they thought, ‘We’ll make us a human!'” Just click here to get yours in time for the holidays!