“The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” – Roland Orzabal, Mad World
These lyrics, though they seem morbid at first, actually have some inspiring truth.
You see, dreams that have to do with dying actually have nothing to do with death and everything to do with rebirth.
A dream about dying is one that represents the death of the old to make room for the new.
Sometimes we must get rid of the old to make room for the new. In our careers, in relationships, and in life.
“In this life-creative adventure the criterion of achievement will be… the courage to let go of the past… to die to the world and come to birth from within.” – Joseph Campbell
We must release the comfort of our comfort zone to make room for new opportunities, new successes, new achievements. We must release the pain of past relationships to make room for the joy of a new one. We must release our fear of getting rejected to make room for the potential of getting everything we ever wanted.
“Love is letting go of fear.” – Gerald Jampolsky
Yesterday in church, our pastor was talking about a tree in his backyard he had cut down. However, the guy he hired merely sawed through the base and left the stump. So my pastor was unable to plant the new tree he wanted in that same spot. And new life began to grow right from that same old stump.
Much like that tree, we must tear out the entire stump and the roots of our old selves in order to plant a fresh tree and have a new beginning with new growth.
“When you decide to improve your life, the first thing you will experience is loss… The ‘old’ you has to die so that the ‘new’ you can be born. The first act of creation is always destruction.” – Katherine Woodward Thomas
In the same manner, in order for Christ to provide life in us, we must first die to ourselves.
The Bible calls us to “take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.” (Luke 9:23) It tells us we are “buried with Him through baptism into death in order that… we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4).
“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” – 2 Corinthians 4:10-11
There must be a death of the old to make room for the new. We must get rid of our idea for the way we want our lives to turn out in order to make room for God’s idea for the way He wants our lives to turn out.
“He must become greater and I must become less.” – John 3:30
The only way to make room for the new is to get rid of the old. What is the “old” in your life to which you are holding that is preventing the glory of the “new” from shining in?
It’s not easy to let go of the old without sight of the new that will replace it. But until we make room, the new will never come. So we release the “old” in faith that the “new” will come, and it will be so much better than that for which we were settling.
“If there is one thing to bear in mind until the truth of its words eases the heart troubled by apparent failure and loss, it is this: The new life is always greater than the old.” – Ralph Blum
God promises us this:
“He who loses his life will find it.” – Matthew 10:39
