Dream idioms help us to interpret dreams when we recognize them. This post includes two dreams that will help you to spot hidden dream idioms. First, let’s define an idiom.

What are Dream Idioms?

An idiom is a figurative phrase that means something other than what the words say. In English, we use hundreds or thousands of idiomatic expressions all the time without giving them much thought. For example, I need to “wrap my head around it,” which means I must “try to understand it.” Another popular saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” really means, “Don’t assume something (or something about someone) based on what you first see.”

When idioms are found in dreams, I simply refer to them as dream idioms. Can you spot three idioms in this dream before I point them out? A scene from an April 2020 dream:

I was in the living room of my house (not my real-life house), and my eyes focused on some old videotapes (possibly VHS). The videos, previously stored on the center table, were now on the floor. I wondered how they got there. I decided to put them back on the table.

While pondering this, I looked away and “saw” teachers in a classroom helping young students to “match words.” For example, a student matched the rhyming words “rim” and “brim.” I refocused on the table. (End of scene)

Hidden in Plain Sight

Dreams are parabolic, meaning they are symbolic and must be interpreted. At the same time, dreams inherently contain the keys we need to help us unlock their meanings. The difficulty is that these keys are “hidden in plain sight” (a common idiom that means “easily overlooked”). The classroom scene I “saw” was an embedded vision. There was no classroom in my house. Whenever a vision is embedded in a dream, the vision clarifies the meaning of the dream.

Your house in your dream represents your life (where you live). As such, the classroom vision revealed that there would be teaching/instruction in my house regarding “matching words.” Keep in mind that a house may symbolize your family or church, depending on who you see living there during your dream.

Dream Idioms: Tabled, On the Floor, On the Table

My dream contained a type of “matching words” …idioms. Allow me point to them out:

The old video tapes symbolize visions seen many years ago (and recorded/written down) that used to be on the table but were found on the floor, and I decided to put them back on the table.

To be “tabled” means to put off discussing something until another time. In other words, the visions (videos) were for an appointed time… in the future (Habakkuk 2: 2-3).

“On the floor” is an expression that can mean putting something into action or “laying the groundwork.“

The idiom “on the table” means something is available for others to hear, review or discuss.

So, what was tabled, then on the floor and about to be put on the center table?

The visions (old video tapes) the Lord gave me about teaching others were “tabled” for almost twenty years (I knew very little about dreams and visions back then); suddenly, the topic was “on the floor.” During the lockdowns of 2020, after I published a book, I began to think about developing a course on dream interpretation. However, neither the design nor the time to develop the course came immediately. Now three years later, the first course is “on the table” and made available to others.

Ears to Hear

In addition to idioms and rhyming words, dreams often contain metaphors, similes, similitudes (similar messages to stories and events we read in the Bible), dark speech, or riddles. Dreams may even show us invisible realms.

Interestingly, just a few days after the table dream, in early May 2020, I saw another “matching” type dream.

I dreamed I was shopping for new clothes. While in the fitting room I looked in the mirror and noticed my right earring was missing. The earrings looked expensive (not my modest everyday style). I started to retrace my steps to try to find the missing earring. (End of Dream).

Just as clothes symbolize our calling, “earrings” are mantles for the ears or “hearing.” In Scriptures: Judges 8:24, Genesis 16:11, 17:20, Ishmael means “God hears” (and the Ishmaelites wore gold earrings). Another well-known Scripture, Romans 10:17, tells us that faith comes by “hearing” the word of God. Therefore, as we look into the mirror of His Word (James 1:22-25), we see (hear) what God says about us. Through this dream, God was saying, don’t lose your “hearing” (your faith) concerning what I am “calling” you to do. So, when faith is misplaced or hearing becomes distracted, return and find it again (retrace your steps)!

God guides us with His still, small voice, easily drowned out by distractions. Undoubtedly, the media screamed the loudest during the 2020 pandemic when I received this dream; loud does not always mean accurate. (Wasn’t there an uproar on Mount Carmel? Yet the God who seemed silent answered by fire! 1 Kings 18:20-40).

It’s All About Location, Location, Location

Never underestimate the message hidden in a simple, straightforward dream. If you are unaware, you will soon discover that your dreams can have more than one application. Because of this, we should look at our dreams in the context of what is going on in our lives as well as what God is speaking to us about His Kingdom business. Spiritual dreams are not arbitrary. They have meaning, release our purpose, confirm our assignments, and reveal our destiny.

To understand and correctly interpret my VHS tapes dream scene, I had to view it from an aerial (heavenly) location. What do I mean by heavenly view?

Imagine you are in a hot air balloon hovering over a house with a transparent roof. You can see all the rooms and everything around the house, all at the same time. What an amazing view! Without this perspective, I would be stuck at “rim” and “brim” and not see the dream idioms and meaning. I still do not know their relevance, but perhaps one day, I will.

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Thank you for visiting! To learn more about dreams and visions and embedded visions, please take my free course, Laying Dream Foundations.