Drill

I had a quick nap just now and i had a dream... I dreamt that i was in some regimental squad.. kinda like an army... and we were supposed to do some drill.. now the person who was training us happened to be a lady and she gave a command for all of us to fall into 3 ranks or something.. (can't exactly remember if the commands were in english, malay or a mixture..) den in my eagerness to show off that i had some previous knowledge of drill (i used to be in Boys Brigade), i zealously tried to execute the drill command but it happened that i did it wrongly and ended up in a rather awkward and embarassing position with my hand sticking out or something.. not that the rest around me did it perfectly but in my zealousness to prove myself i ended up with a weird posture and an awkward execution... then i heard the lady instructor saying something like "Your bearing reflects on your nation..." or something like that (cant really remember the exact words)...

Dreams usually have an allegorical meaning and i believe that this one has a wealth of things to say... first of all, for myself- sometimes, in my pursuit of God i try too hard.. even perhaps to the point that i rely on the things i do to get closer to Him.. that's not supposed to be the case.. i believe God wants me to rest in Him...

Ok now for other interpretations... I believe that the drill instructor is the spirit of wisdom.. why do i think so? cos if u take a look at the book of Proverbs, wisdom is referred to as a "she" and one of the things that wisdom produces in us is discipline... we are part of an army, we are part of the kingdom of God and our bearing and how we conduct ourselves reflect on the Kingdom we represent.. first, individually and then corporately... The thing about drill is that all of us have to give our best in keeping our bearing even in the small things- the small details of how we move, stomp our feet, etc... And all of us have to be united in setting this standard and following it.. unity is important... if everyone in the squad gives his best, except for one, the effect can be felt and the whole squad doesn't do well in executing the drill commands.. so not only one person has to do his best but the whole squad too.. and the thing is that many times, many of us are not willing to be faithful in the small little details and this causes the performance of the whole squad to be compromised. The truth is that we serve a King and we are representatives of His Kingdom and how we conduct ourselves individually and corporately reflects on that.

Another lesson we can learn is that the execution is just as important as the end result.. if a move is not executed correctly, the desired effect is not there.. and sometimes, with a wrong execution, we get a wrong result... we should start paying more attention to the process and not just the product. The attitude is also important.. having zeal is not enough.. we have to be zealous for the right things and execute that zeal with the right process.. many times, we are zealous for selfish reasons.. take the Singapore church in context, we should not be zealous to "perform well" for the kingdom of God and win lots and lots of souls just for the selfish reasons of having a large church with a large reputation and a large head at that.. rather, we should be zealous for what is greater than us, for the whole body of Christ at large, for our Lord and Master and His Kingdom that we represent. Our attitude is important.

When revival comes, it's not just one church by one church working on their own but churches working together to establish the Kingdom of God. Our bearing reflects on our nation, that is the church, the people of God and those in His Kingdom.. and the church in turn reflects God Himself.. May His reputation be of greater importance than ours or our church's. Jesus said that if He be lifted up from the earth, He will draw all men unto Himself! :)

God bless! :)