A Dream of Character Development In A Dark Time (Bananas, Turmeric, Discerning Ingredients)
A couple weeks ago I had a dream that involved a parked car, bananas, turmeric powder, a college friend and a shopping center. The dream came during a time of adverse circumstances and it contained an instruction for how to use the ongoing challenges for additional character development. The dream contained several important elements which required research to fully understand. In this post is my dream and the study I did to understand the symbols and their relevance to real life circumstances at the time.
Some dreams don’t just comfort you — they hand you a plan for how to get through what you’re facing. This one used a parked car, a banana, and turmeric spice to point straight at the character development God wanted in the middle of a genuinely hard season.
Before we get started, let me set the stage by saying that this post is a perfect follow up to my last one since it deals with the exact same circumstances and the process of development God expects of us. If you missed that post, here’s the link:
August 31, 2026 – 2- I’m walking around a big parking lot full of cars to a car where there’s some food on top of it. Seemed like a very large shopping area. A guy I know from college (Erich) is there and we are each supposed to take the last 2 pieces of food that are left on top. Both foods are long shaped and they seem to have turmeric on them. Erich takes the thinner one and I take the thicker one. Mine is a banana with lots of fresh turmeric powder on top. I start eating it and trying to figure out what the other ingredients there are. I had a thought there might have also been blueberries in there. Dark setting.
Here are each of the symbols interpreted…
Parking lot = a place of shopping which represents researching options and searching to obtain things you need in your personal / spiritual life.
Top of car = reaching “above” indicates things coming down to you from Heaven and indicates the dream refers to things pertaining to the spiritual realm.
Back of car = where things are stored that you carry around with you; this can represent emotions and emotional baggage which greatly influence your quality of life (how you “ride” through life).
Banana = a long shaped soft fruit that is easily damaged — represents the fruit of the Spirit, specifically long suffering (patience) and gentleness (meekness) according to Gal 5:22-23.
Turmeric = a yellow colored spice used for healing and countering inflammation (symbolically refers to emotional healing), and eliminating any emotional or spiritual toxicity (matters of the heart).
Spices = in the general sense, represents health, wealth and commerce in Biblical times (often associated with the far east cultures).
Yellow / gold = Biblically represents having a spirit of wisdom, the glory of God and the process of coming into your own glory.
Blueberries = blue refers to spiritual things which confirms this dream refers to the fruit of the Spirit which are often of a delicate nature.
Erich = this was a symbolic representation of someone else (not the literal Erich from my college days), this refers to a different friend who I know right now and is mostly of equal status with me in terms of training and experience; the meaning of the name is “one who will rule forever”.
Discerning ingredients = an instruction to study and research Biblical sources to correctly understand the true meaning of the dream by investigating individual distinctions of each symbol and “rightly dividing” the word of God according to each individual distinct element (2 Timothy 2:15).
Darkness = represents the real life evil / adverse circumstances or “dark” times that I was having to endure, in some cases, this can also represent ignorance or lack of understanding.
Real Life Circumstances
At the time of this dream, I and several other people I know were all experiencing very negative circumstances. God was fully aware of those circumstances and He used this dream to give an instruction about the type of character He wanted us to develop. In my case, meekness and patience were the fruit of the Spirit that I needed more of.
There was a subtle instruction (discerning ingredients) in these symbols which indicated the need for study in order to correctly understand the meaning of the dream. This is something I’ve done many times, especially in these blog posts, and it helped me understand what level God was speaking to me regarding the interpretation of the dream.
There is a subtle positive element here which can only be discovered by diligent study — it is the meaning of the color of turmeric, which is yellow / gold. As I wrote above, the color yellow represents the glory of God and a spirit of wisdom. This is what was said of Daniel the prophet, especially regarding his ability to understand and correctly interpret dreams. In this dream, this yellow/gold-colored spice subtly refers to how God uses very horrible circumstances (“light affliction”, 2 Corinthians 4:17) to develop us into our own glory as He did with Joseph during the years he was sold into slavery and falsely accused and imprisoned.
In the following weeks after the dream, I was able to see how the dream related to personal circumstances, and how much was being communicated through these dense layers of symbols. In some ways, I was doing well in the midst of very negative conditions (ref my last post) and in other ways, I still need some development.
Had I not taken the extra time to study and ponder the meaning of this dream, I would have missed the very important and subtle elements conveyed in this dream. This is sometimes how God will speak — in dense layers in a dream of this type. When you take the extra time to research (in the Bible) the full meaning of the symbols, you will be amazed at how much you can gain from it! This is what I have experienced many times in the last 15 years or so — even after I post a blog of this type, I often still continue learning more about the dream as the weeks and months pass.
Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation. I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
Daniel 5:12, 14 (KJV)
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2 Corinthians 4:17 (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Psalms 37:11 (KJV)
Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
Proverbs 8:10 (KJV)
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
1 Corinthians 15:41 (KJV)
Need More Help?
I hope this post helped you discover the Biblical meanings of the many symbols I discussed here. If you have a dream that you don’t understand, keep reading my blogs and check out my new Dream Dictionary page where I am continuing to add new symbols based on what I’ve already written in this website since 2011.
If you still need help after that, check out my store page or contact me for dream interpretation using the buttons at bottom of this post.
As always, thank you for reading this and supporting my work!!
FAQs About Dream Interpretation
How can I tell if a dream is giving me an instruction, not just a picture?
Look for an element that feels like a command or a task within the dream itself — in this one, it was the action of taking and eating the food, and to notice its ingredients. When a dream asks you to *do* something with a symbol rather than just observe it, that’s often a sign God is pointing at an action step, not just a message.
Why does understanding a dream sometimes take weeks?
Dense, layered dreams like this one often only make full sense once you see how they play out against real circumstances. The meaning here didn’t fully land until the weeks afterward, when the need for patience and gentleness showed up in daily life.
Does every food item in a dream carry spiritual meaning?
Not automatically — context matters. The same fruit or spice can mean different things depending on color, condition, and what’s happening around it in the dream. That’s why “discerning ingredients” (studying each element individually) is part of the interpretation process rather than using a fixed dictionary lookup.
Why go through this much research for a single dream?
God expects us to be diligent and to take an active role in any area of our faith! This is what separates those who are approved by God versus those who think they are but are not. 2 Timothy 2:15 sets the standard of “rightly dividing” truth — treating each symbol as its own distinct piece rather than skimming for a general impression. The depth of study is what surfaces the specific character work God is asking for, not just a vague takeaway.
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