Interpreting dreams is tricky business. I'm not a psychologist, so I won't pretend to offer an expert's analysis of certain dreams that I have had. Sometimes those dreams would leave such a vivid impression that they haunted me for days. I used to think that those dreams were peculiar to me, and I found them embarrassing. As I grew older, I found everybody has them. Let's see if some are familiar to you.

You are out for a walk in the countryside, and suddenly you meet a wild animal. You turn to run, and discover that instead of wearing sneakers you are wearing heavy work boots, and the only thing that saves you from being mauled by the monster of the wild, just as he is ready to pounce on you, is that you wake up in a cold sweat.

You are getting ready for your final exam. It covers a subject with which you have had difficulty all year, and you have to do well to pass the course. But now, sitting at your desk waiting for the teacher to pass out the test questions, you can't even remember the name of the course. Here she comes with a smirk of sadistic glee. Then you wake up.

You have been invited to a state dinner at the White House. You are the envy of all your neighbors. You pack your bags, get on the plane, arrive in Washington, and head for the White House. As you look at the other guests standing in the receiving line, all of them are dressed in gorgeous formal attire. Just then you pass a full length mirror and look at yourself ... and you are as naked as a jay-bird.

You've been sitting on the bench all season, wanting a chance to play. Finally the big moment comes, the coach calls your name, you jump to your feet and head for third base ... only to realize you didn't even bring your glove to the game ... and you are wearing the tuxedo you forgot at the White House.

Sunday is here. I get into the pulpit to preach again ... only I can't find my notes. In fact, I don't even remember preparing a sermon. (If you say, "I remember that Sunday," I'll recommend your ex-communication.)

There is a common thread that runs through all of these dreams ... the feeling of inadequacy and the corresponding fear of failure.

I love the old comic strip depicting Lucy, Charlie Brown and Linus lying in a field, looking up at the bright white clouds in an azure blue sky. Lucy asks Linus, "Linus, what do you see?"

Linus replies, "That cloud looks like a profile of Beethoven. Those clouds look like an outline of the blue Azores. And those clouds remind me of Saul holding the cloak of Stephen as he was being stoned."

Then Lucy turns to Charlie Brown and asks, "And Charlie Brown, what do you see?"

Charlie Brown says, "I was going to say I saw a ducky and a doggy ... but I've changed my mind."

Feelings of inadequacy and fear of failure haunt us all. We are aware that people have expectations of us -- God has expectations of us -- and we have expectations of our own, and we don't want to fail by any standard of measurement However we measure success, we all need to have some sense that we have succeeded. And if we don't think we can succeed in a task, we usually decline it.