This week we have the continuation of Joseph (Yosef’s) story in Egypt. Pharaoh has had 2 dreams that none of his advisors can explain. Yosef has built up a nice reputation in prison as a great dream interpreter, and by being a star networker, ends up being consulted for this particular instance.
As you may remember, Pharoah’s first dream is him standing by the Nile. He sees 7 well-fed, healthy cows hanging out. Then he sees 7 malnourished, thin cows coming up after them, which then stand with the healthy cows. Then the 7 malnourished cows eat the well-fed ones. The next dream shows 7 healthy ears of grain growing in the field. Then come 7 unhealthy, beaten ears of grain that grow up to the healthy ones, devouring them.
Yosef interprets this as meaning that Egypt will have 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine.According to the Midrash, Pharaoh’s interpreters told him he would have 7 children but then bury them all, or that he was going to defeat 7 nations, but none of those explanations satisfied him. Why? What no one addresses is why all 14 cows are standing together at one point — before the skinny cows ate the fat cows, they were existing on the banks of the Nile together. Pharaoh’s interpreters were perplexed by this. How can you have bad and good at the same time?
Yosef answers this question after he interprets by not only decoding the dream, but ALSO giving his advice on how to solve it, too! He suggests that they store food for 7 years, so that when the famine comes, they will be ok. Just as the skinny cows stood next to the fat cows, the store houses of food will stand alongside the famine — good and bad at the same time.
This idea of saving the good so that even in the bad, things are ok reminds me of something I heard recently on a podcast with the actor MatthewMcConaughey. You may recognize him from every early 2000s romantic comedy ever, but he’s now a newly minted New York Times Bestselling author! He just released a memoir / life approach book called Greenlights, which is essentially a combination of his own musings and journals he has kept since he was 14 years old. Matthew McConaughey is kind of a mythological creature — an incredibly successful but seemingly totally laid back and chilled out guy. How can you be so chilled out AND successful seems to be the biggest question we all have.
Matthew McConaughey’s answer is that he is in fact NOT such a roll-out-of-bed-and-go kind of person. He’s really a fascinating guy to listen to… all about self betterment and doing everything with precision and thoughtfulness. But something he talked about that I liked was in regard to his keeping journals. He says that people tend to write in journals when they’re sad or not feeling like they’re in a good place. He noticed that he was doing the same thing and decided that didn’t make sense. Why write down what you’re doing that doesn’t make you happy? So he started writing in his journal when things were good. So that when he looked back, he could start emulating that person who was doing so well, the person going through what he calls “Greenlights” in life. Times where no one is stopping you and you’re sailing by.
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