The Daydreamer

There was once a young girl who loved to daydream. She daydreamed at home and at school. She even daydreamed before she went to sleep at night. Although her daydreaming didn't affect her schoolwork or her home life, her parents were still worried. So much daydreaming -- for even a child -- seemed unnatural. Finally, in frustration, her parents sent the girl to a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist talked to the girl for several hours, but he gave up trying to dissuade her from her daydreaming. "She dreams about some kind of fantasy land," he told the parents. "I couldn't get very much out of her, but it's a cinch that she doesn't want to stop doing it. Maybe she'll grow out of it. Kids go through phases, you know."

But the girl continued to daydream. When she was ten, her parents were finally at their wit's end. One day the mother met her daughter's Sunday School teacher in the supermarket. The teacher already knew about the young girl's problem and asked her mother if she could try to talk to her.

"Anything!" the mother answered. "We're pretty desperate."

The next day, after school, the girl went directly to her Sunday School teacher's house. The woman sat her down at the kitchen table and offered her something to nibble on. Then she wasted no time in getting down to business.

"Your parents are very worried about your daydreaming," she began. "Can you tell me what you dream about?"

"A bunch of different things," the girl answered. "Mostly I dream about a place far away where I want to live someday. I think about sprouting wings and flying there."

"Like Never-Never Land?" the teacher asked.

"No, ma'am. Heaven."

The teacher raised her eyebrows. "Heaven?"

"Yes, ma'am. I read the Bible, just like you and my parents always told me to do. I can see Heaven just as clear as a bell in my mind. It really looks just like it says in Revelation. I see Jesus there, too -- and God."

"And this is what you dream about?"

"Yes, ma'am. The minister told us to keep our eyes on Jesus, right? So that's what I do. When I'm sad or have a problem, or if someone is giving me a hard time, or I feel like I'm getting mad, I visit Jesus in Heaven and everything is all right again."

When the teacher reported the conversation to the girl's parents, they were amazed. "So THAT'S what all this has been about!" the father exclaimed.

The teacher smiled. "She told me that she could see Jesus just as clear as if He was in the same room with her. If I could only have the faith of your child and see the Truth as clearly as she does, I don't think I would have another trouble in this world. I would give anything to be able to daydream like that."

That night, as the young girl was getting ready for sleep, she saw her mother and father standing in the doorway. They walked across her room and sat on the bed beside her. Her mother smiled.

"Honey, your Dad and I have a big favor to ask of you."

"What is it, Mommy?"

The parents looked at each other for a moment as if wondering what they should say. Then they turned to their daughter. "Your Sunday School teacher told us about your daydreams, and how you can see Heaven and God and Jesus."

"I can, Mommy," the little girl answered excitedly. "I really can."

"I believe you, Honey," her father said. "But we have something very important we want to ask you to do for us."

A quizzical expression came over the young girl's face as she looked at one parent, then the other. "What do you want me to do, Daddy? Clean my room? Wash the dishes?"

"No, Pumpkin," her father answered gently. "We don't want you to do any of those things -- tonight, anyway. I simply want you to TEACH your mother and I HOW to daydream."

"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." (Mark 10:15)

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Ed Price spent 35 years in print and broadcast journalism. He is author of 15 books. After becoming an ordained minister he settled with his wife on a farm in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, to study God's word and to write. Ed and Patty are the parents of three girls, have one grandchild, and cater to the every whim of two spoiled cats.
© 2008 Ed Price - All rights reserved. Visit his website, The Loving Heart.

This column is used with permission.