Feedback – do you need it?
Imagine the scene:
You’ve interpreted a dream for someone and you have given them the message that you think it contains. They then get back to you and let you know what they think of the interpretation……
“I am kind of disappointed to be honest” or “Thank you this is very encouraging and exciting”
Both of these comments have been received at The Dream House in the space of 24 hours.
How do you as the interpreter respond?
Well this is what I did:
For the positive I very simply got back to them and thanked them for the feedback.
For the ‘not so positive’ I got back to them and again thanked them for their feedback and apologised for disappointing them.This dreamer had asked about the meaning of some of the symbols in the dream that I interpreted so I explained what I felt they had meant and how they fitted in the interpretation I had given. All of this was presented in a polite, friendly manner. I then received another email from the dreamer apologising for the initial email – the disappointment was not aimed at the interpretation that I had given, but that it confirmed what the dreamer already knew and that they had hoped that there was more in it. My response had allowed the dreamer space to do some self-reflection and realise that they had already interpreted the symbols and message in the dream correctly. God was simply trying to bring the dreamer’s attention to their habit of second guessing everything,
So why do I share this with you?
Well there are a couple of reasons:
- It is important in some senses to view the people you are interpreting dreams for as your customers and provide them with a high level of customer service (even though you are not charging them for the service you have provided). You, as the interpreter, often have no insight into what the dreamer is going through and why they responded to the interpretation in the way that they did. Often the dreamer will have no clear idea as to what the dream is about and the interpretation can then touch on areas of their life that is ‘sensitive’ for them. Interpreting dreams for other people is an honour so treat the dreamers with the respect they deserve.
- It would have been very easy for me to go on an emotional rollercoaster with these two very differing sets of feedback. The teaching of the Art of Hearing God comes into its own here – my identity is not wrapped in whether dreamers do or do not like the interpretation I gave them. Nor should my sense of identity be connected to my ability to interpret dreams. My sense of identity has to come from being a child of the Living God. Anything less than that will lead down the path towards ‘performance mode’ where we see gifting being more important than character.
Feedback from dreamers is important, it allows you to see how you’re ability to interpret dreams is progressing and if you are able to help them understand the messages from God.
However, be careful that you don’t allow that to become the source of your identity.