Decoys, Discernment, and What Remains

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Matthew 7:20 KJV

Sometimes Spirit gives me dreams that make perfect sense when I wake up.

And sometimes I wake up thinking, What in the world did I just see?

This was one of those dreams.

I found myself somewhere in the Midwest, inside a convenience store. There was an agency of strange characters who appeared to be there for entertainment. One of them stayed particularly close to me.

He was difficult to describe.

His hair was bright red and slicked back. He wore a blue suit with a white shirt and dark sneakers. His appearance reminded me of an unusual combination of Ronald McDonald, a vampire, and the charisma of Elvis Presley.

He looked like someone I should probably be afraid of.

But he wasn't the threat.

That distinction became the heart of the dream.

Not Everything That Looks Frightening Is Your Enemy

Something far more dangerous was moving through the environment.

There was destruction.

People disappeared.

Groups of people were wiped out.

Yet the strange red-haired agent remained beside me.

He was afraid too. In fact, at moments he seemed more frightened than I was. But fear didn't cause him to abandon me.

He stayed.

And sometimes staying tells you more about a person than appearances ever could.

We are often taught to identify people by presentation. Who looks trustworthy? Who looks polished? Who sounds right? Who makes us comfortable?

But discernment asks a different question:

What is the fruit?

Someone can look intimidating and stand beside you.

Someone can look harmless and contribute to your destruction.

Someone can wear a mask and still be helping you.

And someone can smile beautifully while quietly working against you.

The dream would not allow me to determine alignment by appearance.

I had to watch what everyone did.

Gather What Remains

Something else happened twice.

After destruction occurred, things were left behind.

And I gathered them.

I didn't stand there mourning everything that had disappeared. I didn't spend the remainder of the dream demanding an explanation for what had happened.

I recognized what remained, retrieved it, and continued moving.

Twice.

That stayed with me when I woke up.

There are seasons when restoration does not mean getting everything back exactly as it was.

Sometimes restoration looks like recognizing what survived.

The lesson.

The wisdom.

The documentation.

The experience.

The relationships.

The discernment.

The strength you didn't know you had.

The knowledge you can carry into the next room.

You gather what remains.

And you keep going.

The Convenience Store Wasn't Home

I also couldn't stop thinking about the location.

I wasn't in a house.

I wasn't at my destination.

I was in a convenience store.

A convenience store is somewhere you stop along the journey. You obtain what you need there, and then you continue traveling.

That changed the meaning for me.

Maybe some places were never meant to become permanent destinations.

Maybe some environments exist long enough to provision us.

You learn there.

You gather there.

You encounter people there.

You discover what you can endure there.

And eventually, you continue.

The Client Who Wasn't Worried

At another point in the dream, I encountered someone connected to my professional life.

Services had been put into place for her, but she laughed about them.

What fascinated me was that I understood her reaction.

I could see her progress.

The requirements existed, but she wasn't intimidated by what remained to be completed. She seemed almost amused by it.

And then she disappeared from the dream.

Her portion was finished.

That made me think about how easily we confuse process with transformation.

A person can complete every requirement and remain unchanged.

Another person can already be transforming while paperwork still says there is more to do.

Sometimes the system is still checking boxes while the human being has already begun moving.

The Agent Stayed

Eventually, I realized something remarkable.

People came and went.

The environment changed.

Destruction happened.

The client disappeared.

But that strange agent remained with me.

The one who initially looked like he belonged in the nightmare became the one walking beside me through it.

And that may be the part of the dream I needed most.

Sometimes help doesn't arrive wearing the clothes we expected.

Sometimes an ally doesn't immediately look like an ally.

Sometimes a person's exterior is simply their covering.

You discover who they are by watching what happens when things become difficult.

Who stays?

Who helps you gather?

Who contributes to progress?

Who makes the road clearer rather than harder?

Those questions reveal far more than appearances.

Discern. Gather. Keep Going.

I'm currently standing near another professional doorway in my own life.

And perhaps that's why this dream arrived when it did.

I don't believe every strange detail needs to be forced into a prediction. But I do believe dreams can reveal patterns, illuminate what Spirit wants us to notice, and prepare us to recognize something differently when we encounter it awake.

This dream left me with three words:

Discern.

Learn the difference between what merely looks frightening and what actually threatens your peace, purpose, or progress.

Gather.

Don't leave your wisdom scattered among the ruins of difficult seasons. Take what the experience taught you.

Keep going.

A stopping place is not necessarily your destination.

And sometimes the strangest-looking person in the room may turn out to be the one assigned to walk beside you for that portion of the journey.