DREAMS KEEP US ALIVE

So the 'Express Wash' took 52 minutes. I timed it, never once thinking how dull a thing that was to do. There it was though: 52 minutes and 10 seconds, which is a little bit better than two and a half hours.

My phone buzzed as I was draping socks over the drying rack. It was Paul.

"Hi Matt. Fancy a tea break? If u want to pop over we are in."

I hadn't been to see them for ages, particularly since Heather has been unwell. There are lots of reasons: one is that Heather can't risk catching an infection, another is that I've been away a few weekends, and another is that I sometimes feel a bit awkward about sickness, particularly about what the right thing to say might be. However, love for people always wins over awkwardness in the end.

"We think it's our dreams that have kept us alive, really," said Heather, smiling gently, as they talked about the future. There was excitement in her eyes. And in mine. It suddenly occurred to me how important it is to keep dreaming, especially in the face of difficulty.

I can't think of a better story that illustrates this than Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. The musical is from an original story in the Bible about a young man who had dreams about his future and held on to them through the worst kind of difficulty. Through no fault of his own, he was thrown into jail, wrongly accused and left to die, yet his ability to dream and interpret dreams transformed his situation. His dreams kept him alive, they shaped his destiny.

It's pretty easy though, to stop dreaming when you're languishing in a darkened prison cell. When only a miracle will do, it's much easier to forget about your dreams than it is to hold on to the miracle. I think that's because, by definition, a miracle happens when the conditions for it are not possible. And when the conditions make it not possible, it's also the hardest to see it happening.

Heather and Paul were sparkling. It made me wonder about the dreams that I had forgotten, myself. So many things I wanted to do, wanted to see, to sing, to say, to write. Maybe those dreams are what I need to hold on to to stay alive in a world that's constantly trying to shut me down.

I sipped my tea and smiled at my friends. I am so proud that difficulty is not enough to stop them holding on to the dreams given to them.

So, what are you dreaming about? Keep those things alive. One day they might keep you alive too.