Are you a dreamer and a visionary? If you are, be on guard, for dreams and visions can bring about unusual actions.

Several years ago, my aunt was an actor in a community theatre production of the play "Man of La Mancha." She told me that during the weeks of rehearsal and performances, the friendship between Don Quixote and Dulcinea in the script inspired a friendship between the two people who played those roles in the presentation. Shortly after the play closed, the woman who had been Dulcinea was hospitalized for serious surgery. On the night before her surgery, her new friend, in full Don Quixote costume and with a dramatic flurry, entered her hospital room to passionately exclaim, "Dulcinea! I have come!"

To any who might have seen him, this man looked crazy! How many armored knights walk the halls of a hospital? But this guy saw a way of showing love and he acted like a fool to do it. A hurting, frightened woman felt cared for and encouraged. And she laughed and laughed.

In 1858 a young girl saw a vision as she was gathering wood near a small rock cave. Fourteen-year old Bernadette described this vision like this: “a girl in white, no taller than I, and beautiful." The woman spoke to Bernadette, who was a below-average student and the daughter of poor parents. She was not used to being spoken to with such respect. Bernadette saw the vision 18 times. When she asked the woman who she was, the woman responded, "I am the Immaculate Conception," using a term Bernadette had never heard. Of course, people did not believe young Bernadette.

During one of her later appearances, the woman in the vision told Bernadette to dig for water with her hands. When Bernadette began to dig, she uncovered a spring. In the Pyrenees Mountains of southern France – a place called Lourdes -- the spring still flows to this day, and people from all over the world come to its waters to pray.

That such an astounding vision that has affected hundreds of thousands of people came to a young girl from a poor family, reminds me that sometimes the rich and powerful are simply passed over and ordinary people are chosen to dream big dreams. Amazing work and astounding things can be accomplished through ordinary people who haven't forgotten how to dream and haven't closed their hearts to visions.

Could that be said of you? That though you may be young, though you may not be wealthy and powerful in the eyes of the world, you possess the power of dreams and visions! And nothing – NOTHING – is impossible to you.

I was once a part of a group of people looking for a building to purchase and occupy for community service. We looked at the building and saw needed repairs, a precarious roof, water leaks, and a huge amount of money needed for restoration. Interestingly, another group purchased the building because they saw a manicured playground, brightly-colored play equipment, a volleyball court – a dream!

One more thing . . .

Extraordinary visions and wondrous dreams do not just come on high and holy days. Visions and dreams can come to dreamers on ordinary days and at ordinary times, usually when we’ve reached the end of our own resources and we need to dream the most. So, for dreamers and visionaries, it’s always a season for dreaming.