When We Dream ( a lesson from daniel tiger )

If you’re not a parent to a toddler, you may not know Daniel Tiger, the friendly neighborhood Mister-Rogers-Turned-Friendly-Feline. He sings songs. He expresses feelings. He imagines.

So, I channeled Daniel’s power of imagination.

After a week of tough days, of long stretches of time and battles against our flesh-and-blood-selves, I needed to just imagine some things.

During the boys’ nap, I escaped to the quiet of the living room and began to dream.

I browsed pictures of potted plants on balconies, asked how to grow herbs in a hanging cloth shoe organizer (yes! it can be done!) and brainstormed the possibilities of composting with minimal stink.

I sought simplicity and looked around our place for the ways it could be done. I stared at the books that line almost every nook and cranny, and I thanked God for the gift of learning, dreaming for more of it in future days.

We received a box of late Christmas presents, and tore into them, joy shining on our faces.

My sister gifted me an IKEA book of textiles, pictures and pictures of beautiful spaces covered in fabrics.

She gave me more space to dream, just when I needed it most.

If we allow ourselves to notice, we see that God’s gift to us is the ability to dream at all, from the imagining of toddler boys with a cardboard box to our adult selves, closing our eyes to see what could become of us in the months and years ahead.

The reality, of course, is that I won’t recycle every bottle, and I may not have a home full of refurbished furniture, or eat all of my veggies from our patio garden.

But if we only dreamt for what always fully happens, we’d miss the beautiful process of dreaming just for the sake of our peace today, for these moments.

So, if you really need to, watch a PBS Daniel Tiger episode, and connect with your inner, dreamer self.

Or, just curl up for a minute on the couch and think about what you hope for yourself, for your family, for your life.

And dream, dream, dream, for the sake of dreaming, and for the sake of quiet peace.