Ben Them was meant to stop yesterday, but here’s a little coda to say: I fell out of a tree forty days ago (plus Sundays), but I never told you how that worked out! I’ve now been discharged by the hospital. That means my shoulder is just fine, and I need no more appointments. It’s still a funny shape, but compared to my teeth, for example, it’s perfect. It remains true that I did not die. I could have, or it might have been a lot worse. I should remember that, and enjoy each fresh opportunity.

While we’re here, would you like to hear a dream I dreamed in October, the morning before my birthday. I know dreams are just dreams, but I dreamed I met God, and I found myself with a message which has helped a lot.

I dreamed I met God in a shopping centre or tower. He was masquerading as the CEO or inventor of Lego, but I knew who he was. He didn’t mind, as he wasn’t there for my benefit. That is, he was there to help and guide and call people, but I wasn’t in need of that (since I already trust in him). We had a conversation about colour. I think my sister, who half knew who he was, brought him some blue chalk, wondering if it was his favourite colour. We talked about the colours we can’t see yet, and how magenta is so much more than we can see, and how plants like lemongrass are a pleasure to look upon with their many real colours.

God was genuinely interested in everyone he talked to. He talked to my sister for a while. She had a missing joint from her ring finger. I knew she had bitten it off a few weeks or months ago and regretted this. When God casually asked when it had been lost, she lied and said about three years ago. I wanted to speak up and correct her, but it was for her to be honest with God. I wasn’t needed to tell God someone else’s truth.

I wanted to ask God to heal her, but I knew that could only come when she told him the truth about herself. She held back because she was worried God would disapprove of her marriage. I was sure that would be no problem, and that He would love to hear all about her wife and meet her.

In my dream, God was not here to condemn us or break down our lives, but to meet us and have us be honest about ourselves. We weren’t there to win his approval, but just to be honest and speak as with a true friend.

I knew in the dream that God and I would meet again. I woke and knew this was so.

I am relentlessly negative about myself, but I don’t need to be. My sin died with Christ and should no longer be a burden. I cannot and need not earn God’s approval, and I should remember we’re working together to encourage and bring his love and peace into the lives of others. Nobody gains by me tearing at myself. Better to let my little light shine.