Rooftops are for Dreamers

I think I was 9 years old the first time. Maybe even a little younger.

I must have seen my dad do it or some of the masons around the property do it, and I wanted to do it too.

The first time was kind of scary. The step ladder was only 6 feet tall with a 2 foot gap to get to the top of the roof. And my dad would help pull me up to the top by pulling me up from the top of the ladder. But eventually I learned how to climb the ladder alone. I would turn my back to the corner of the roof, and with both hands palms down on the edge of the roof, I would push myself up, spin around and I was there, in my favorite childhood & adolescent place - the rooftop of our home on Delmas.

This rooftop was the place for dreamers. Especially for this little girl.

I'm not sure if being a missionary kid without lots of extra-curricular activities was the reason for my aggressive imagination, or maybe just being an "Anne-girl" by nature, but the roof was the place where that imagination and dreams and desires for the future came to life.

I dreamed of romance.

Sometimes it was imaginary. Sometimes it was a boy across the waters. Other times it was the boy on the mountain whose house lights I "thought" I could see at night. Many nights, he didn't have a name, but I would dream of him looking at the same stars as I was, no matter where he was {Little did I know that since he was growing up in Africa, we NEVER saw the same stars at the same time...hahahahaha...!!}.

I dreamed of the future.

Sometimes I was in college. Sometimes I was married. Usually, I was always in America. Sometimes I was famous. Sometimes I just lived near my family and friends.

I dreamed of becoming the woman God had called me to be.

Sometimes the dreams were simple - travel to America, live close to my family & friends, get married, have children. Sometimes I wanted to be somebody, something -- to make a difference in the world.
Sometimes I just wanted to learn to be more like Jesus.

I learned to pray on that roof.
I learned to seek His face there.
I learned to find His will for my life.

The rooftop of Delmas was the place where I moved from childhood into girlhood, and on summer breaks from college, moved from girlhood to womanhood.

Whenever I come back here, a barrage of emotions and memories flood my mind, but most of all, I am encouraged to be a dreamer again. To let my imagination and creativity flow.

On the rooftop, I can be anything I want to be, travel anywhere that I want to, imagine anything the way it "should" be.

I can dream.

Psalm 126:1

When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream.

What are some of your "rooftop" dreams?

Do you still let yourself dream today?