HAL BRADY: Dream on about the good that is yet to come

The biblical character Joseph was one of 12 brothers and somewhat a problem. In my day, he would have been labeled “conceited and stuck up.” Joseph’s multi-colored coat indicated that he was his father’s favorite child and he knew it. When new clothes were given to the brothers, only Joseph got the equivalent of a silk smoking jacket while the brothers received plain old denim. In addition, Joseph had the bad habit of being a tattle-tale on his brothers, and no one likes a tattle-tale. Consequently, Joseph’s brothers were jealous and didn’t like Joseph. As a matter of fact, they hated Joseph and wanted to kill him. But all these elements are only secondary in the story. The most important difference between Joseph and his brothers was that Joseph had a dream (Genesis 37:5). Joseph was a dreamer!

“Dreamer!” What do we think of when we hear this word? The dictionary defines dreamer as “an impractical person,” and that’s what numbers of us also think. We think of a dreamer as a person with his/her head in the clouds and out of touch with reality. On the other hand, the dictionary further defines a dreamer as “one who dreams.” We are the “music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams,” wrote Edward Elgar and Arthur O’Shaughnessy in “The Music Makers.” We dream dreams because we are born of the Spirit, and we are the music makers because we must sing of the best that is in us — our God-inspired visions.