What do dreams mean?

Most dreams arise from our own thoughts, wishes and experiences and carry no message. Some dreams, however, come from God. They are often symbolic, leave a deep impression, and are later fulfilled in ways the dreamer could never have influenced.

Everyone dreams, every night, even if we remember only a few of our dreams. In sleep the mind processes what it went through during the day. It brings impressions back up, the way a cow chews the cud. Old experiences we thought were long forgotten can resurface too. Such dreams are a natural process. Sometimes they come from our wishes and worries, or simply from an upset stomach. They carry no message and need not be taken seriously.

God placed the ability to dream in every human being. And He uses this very ability when He wants to tell someone something. A dream from God comes silently. The person sleeping next to the dreamer hears nothing. Yet the dream itself is ordered, not chaotic. Often it speaks in images the dreamer does not understand at first.

How can such a dream be recognised? It leaves a deep impression, and often a great inner peace. Above all, it contains knowledge of hidden or future things that the dreamer could not have had. When the dream is later fulfilled, sometimes only years afterwards, it becomes clear to everyone that it did not come from the dreamer's own mind.

The best known example is the dream of the king in the time of Joseph (as). He saw seven fat cows and seven lean ones. His advisers called it a muddle of dreams. Joseph (as), however, explained it as seven good harvests followed by seven years of drought. The king had no power over rain or crops. Yet everything came true, and many people were saved because stores were laid up in time.

So if you see an unusual dream that stays with you, you may take it seriously and ask someone who understands how to interpret dreams. At the same time, humility matters. Not every pleasant dream about oneself is a message from God.