Virtually everyone at one time or other has received a dream, a vision, a feeling or impression. The question is not that we receive but what we respond with.

When I was a child I decided to make my parents breakfast. I was perhaps 4. I had watched my mom and dad prepare meals and had participated alongside. I never thought “how hard can that be”. I thought about loving my parents and making them breakfast. So with great care I pulled up our kitchen stool. I took the pan that was inserted in the stove top and brought it over to the sink. I put water in it and trod back over to the stove with the heavy pan of water. Getting it back in the insert, I turned it on. I then went and got animal crackers and put them in. Going to the refrigerator I got the glass bottle of milk and added some. I impatiently waited for breakfast to be done. As the concoction began to bubble I went in an woke my parents. “Breakfast is ready” I announced. My parents came out and looked and my mom got bowls. Each of the ate some of the porridge!

I loved to cook then and I love cooking now. But if at 59 years old I was still making animal soup crackers, something would be wrong. Or at least I would not have many guests!

In the kingdom we have lots of people. Some of them “cook”. Some of them don’t. Some will experiment. Others won’t. Some are better at repairing cars and others better at baking or cooking. Over time we have learned to appreciate the individuality of people, their desire and identity. We have accepted that sometimes you must do what you may not like to do well.

BUT, some people are stuck on their Animal Cracker Soup days. Their last encounter was years. They live on a dream or a vision of yesteryear, seeking nothing new or changing little. For whatever reason; perhaps someone made fun of their soup. And they stopped cooking.

(I do know that Shirley Temple sang of animal crackers in my soup, but did she ever make animal cracker soup?)

What I thought at 4 I still remember, but it is NOT where I live. I know that to live off yesterday’s manna (Or soup!) is wrought with danger. At best unfulfilling. At worst, a thief.

It is easy to make a living off yesterday’s thinking, but it is not necessarily living, to hold on to yesterday’s thinking. If all I ever made was soup, I might be “good” at it, but clearly I would not be honing my skills, sharpening my gift or maturing in Him.

One of the greatest sources of disappointment I see is checking out because of “what God did not do” or “I thought that was Him”. Maybe it was. Maybe He moved on. Asked you to move. Fear, hurt or pride kept you from going. Revelation has seasons and timing and words can have shelf life. Perhaps He moved you here to stay. To change. To accomplish something. Maybe you have and there is another city. Maybe you haven’t and someone else is at bat.

The greatest divide is perhaps not theology but maturity or immaturity and what do we do when one is lacking? We may bemoan the lack of fathers and mothers, but ought we sit in the corner and talk about the children and not do anything? It is not always a light versus dark thing. Some things are “age appropriate”. I validate encouragement and edification. I do not do so well, when there is something to be done and someone chooses a “video game”.

Me? I had children because I was young and thought it was a good idea, part of what I was supposed to do. And then there they were. I did not do so well initially. But then I realized the importance of life and the living. I learned how to parent. How to hone my skills. How to get better at it. How to make good choices and sometimes hard choices. How to wipe away tears and snot and look to a smile. Admittedly I am not great at it, so it is not time to stop! There are plenty of grandchildren to capture my attention.

I refuse to live off yesterday. Off my last dream, vision or encounter. To get stuck or to stop.

In 2013 I had a vision and wrote this.

“In the coming days I am going to extinguish the unproductivity (Not the people) in people’s lives and in their sphere. I have plans for people that they have not seen, not understood. There are places that will close and places that will prosper. There are dreams that will be realized and efforts that will be futile. There is a move in this nation, even the world that as I raise up sons who shall move unfettered, bringing forth the goodness I have instilled in them. A change of people and resource.Many are the people of God who have misunderstood, but soon all will see. Be not fearful at the changes, the moves, the light. For in this season, there will be shifts and turns but my plan is unfolding. In this hour many will cry for they lack not understanding, but it is in this hour I will call forth sons who will carry out my purpose. There are those that will prosper in this day and many will be surprised. Be not worried for those that have not heard for soon they will see. They have not listened, even shrugged off my words, but in this day and in this hour I will make them hear.”

Over the last week I have been feeling a similar presence of thought. That real estate is to be cherished. That geography is important. That life as we know it is clearly to be changed.

We can not hold on to what we held yesterday, as I sense there are new weapons of “warfare” that are being proffered by the Lord. Will you receive? Will you grab hold? Even our sustenance will change.

I had two encounters with individuals this month which indicate a confirmation of what I am saying and a change in the atmosphere. In one a woman told me she “could not wait” for her kids to be gone. I told her to “shut up”. I then saw the abortions she had had. The infidelities. And I knew the Lord had put her in my sight for a reason. In another place a man who is so anti-Christian came to me in recognition of God and His authority. Life is changing as you know it. Will you be ready? Will you turn your “weapons into plowshares”?

As a child I watched my daddy shave. He would take a badger brush, dipping it in hot water and apply lather to his face. Making funny faces in the mirror he would shave and get ready for work. I knew there was something more that just being 4 foot four!

As for me? Perhaps I will teach Jacob how to make soup!

C.S. Lewis: “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”