This subject of being alert, ready and watchful that I write about here is being impressed upon me. What I am going to write will also help you to see some of the dream interpretation process that I go through. Sometimes I get an initial overall feel for a dream. In this case the dream I will write about had the overall sense of being about being ready.
I want to start by saying this post links with the previous one about the seed of the good news. In Ephesians 6 where Paul writes about the armour of God he writes about putting on the preparation of peace. In some of the older versions of the Bible the word readiness is used which is like preparation. Being prepared is synonymous to being ready. He then in the passage talks about prayer and talks about being alert.
Here is the dream:
I started a job late at Waitrose. Although I did also have the idea in the dream that it was Marks & Spencers.
There was a lot of staff working. They’d just finished their shift. It was nearly 6pm. I passed one of the late starting shift workers. Even though they were stacking shelves I had a hunch that they were there to clean. The name Charlie came as I looked at one of the workers. He looked at me slyly.
Just before that a guy who looked like Flynn from Timeless turned up. He was more senior and was some kind of regional rep. Everyone else seemed to know him. Mind you I was thinking I had started four days later than when the store had opened. It was a brand new store.
The female boss took a liking to me. Short lady reminded me of Edna Mode from Incredibles (Darling!) She went through some of the procedures with me. There was a large frozen meal in a chest high freezer. It was virtually the size of the freezer. She wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with it so it could be sold. She asked me to check it but the way she asked I momentarily misunderstood and took her literally.
She moved on, I followed. I noticed a coat in a heap on the floor. I bent down and picked it up realising there were some coat hooks on the wall and hung it up. She said no just leave it on the floor and said something else as she flicked it off the hook.
She was intimidating.
The boss didn’t want me to take short cuts anymore; she’d been watching me walking round over a corner past the store. And something else she didn’t want me to do. She then took me home. She had this open top car like a Chevrolet and drove me home. I was glad to leave her but she wasn’t going to be long…
In dreams you often are right in a scenario. This is one of those kinds of dreams. I was introduced to a new job or work role in the company of Waitrose. For those of you overseas this is a store which is a high end store with quality products, including food, drink and household supplies. The dream is implying I was late to the party. A figure of speech which shows someone has found out about something or has started to be involved in an issue when others have been doing so for some time. For me it’s like a wake-up call. The fact that Waitrose is the place to be, the point where the dream starts is significant.
Waitrose is an example of a shop. A shop is a place where one goes to get provisions. This is a place where we go to get things that we need for everyday life. This is elaborated by the next sentence as in my dream another shop is referenced simultaneously in my thinking. Take both of these shops specifically and look at the meaning of both of the words.
Waitrose is a combined name which came from Waite and Rose. The surnames of two men who were the founders of the company along with another whose name was dropped. Now this is where it gets interesting. ‘Waite was originally a name given to someone who worked as a watchman. This surname comes from the Anglo-Norman-French word waite, which means watch’. Rose is the name of a red flower. There is a play on the word red here. Red or reddy in colour – sounds like the word ready! This is the first link to what the dream is about.
At the same time I was thinking of Marks and Spencers. The idea of dispensing is being conveyed through this name along with making one’s mark. This is what happens in a shop. There’s a wider meaning of a shop here, that of prayer.
In the Old Testament there are numerous references to the watchman. I wrote a post about the watchman here. The Greek word for watchman is skopos. This word means a mark to be aimed at or a goal (Phil 3.14).
The next paragraph in the written dream is self explanatory. The workers are all working together. Being part of something bigger is being conveyed here. If we think of the shop as the kingdom of God being operated and moved along by prayer, everything seems to fit into place. As the people of God make up the kingdom of God we all have a role to play. When a season ends for one person another begins for someone else. It is somewhat like the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time when one had to be alert, building with one hand and carrying a weapon in the other.
‘The ones who were building the wall and the ones ⌊who carried the materials⌋ were carrying in one hand while doing the task, and with the other hand were grasping a weapon’.
(Nehemiah 4.17 LEB)
Charlie means army or warrior which fits nicely here. He is watchful in his posture as he looks at me slyly.
The guy Flynn from Timeless – a series I have been watching. He’s a representative of the company. His name is an Irish name which means red. There’s the word that sounds like read, another derivative of being ready. Being ready is not affected by the passage of time. Be ready to seek first the kingdom through a life of prayer.
I like to think that the boss represents Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Her name is Edna which depending where you look can mean kernel or grain (Irish) or truth, pleasure or delight. I knew someone once with the name who had red hair.
I don’t think this is necessarily specific to me. She took a liking to me. The fact that the Lord loves his children and has a purpose for them is something that seems to be coming out here in the dream. She is showing me what I need to be doing in the store. Another ready reference is where she takes me over to a freezer where there is a giant ready-meal waiting and it needs to be checked. Made ready. I thought she was asking me to eat it initially but she was asking me to check whether it could still be sold and whether it had any blemishes. Getting ready the ready-meal!
The Lord does challenge us from time to time. In this time of my life, there is a challenge to stand firm. To be alert to what may come. Jesus talks about us being ready. In the dream Edna is encouraging me to be ready and watchful. To be prepared for when she drives back in her car too. The Lord can be intimidating in a positive sense. Fear when it engenders respect is a healthy thing.
Ephesians 6:18 (LEB): ‘…with all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and to this end being alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…’
Colossians 4:2 (LEB): ‘ Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving,’
If it isn’t obvious by now, the point of the dream is to convey the need to be ready, alert and watchful. These three actions need to be the attitude or inclination of our hearts especially as we are in a time when the kingdom of Heaven is not yet fully realised. Look out for the family of God in your prayers. Have the expectation he will answer – be alert for his response.
The note in the New English Translation for Habakkuk 2.1 says:
Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.