There is a reminder that haunts any one that loves history. “Freedom is never free.”
I hear that reminder and my minds drifts into tears that freely flow for those that have given their lives for you and me. As someone who travels freely, listening to his favorite music, reveling in the opportunities that are here, I am grateful beyond description. Others paid the price so that I can enjoy the moment that is here! Others sacrificed. Others spilled her/his blood. Families are grieving; giving me the opportunity to smile and love.
It is a wonderful scene in my mind, flags are gently moving in the breeze and the soft sun is nurturing my thoughts. It ignores the reality of what unfolded. When one writer captures one scene, “judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas’s clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating”, (Acts 16.22) the scene was tepid. The reality of freedom is that men and women have been brutally murdered. Others have suffered painful, excruciating deaths. Children have lived without their parents. Lovers have longed for their beloved.
I reflect and then realize that there is a single exception. I may ignore the obvious, but it is here. I may deny its existence. Yet, it lives on. It is this. You and I hold freedom within us. We did not ask for it. We did not do anything to get it. God placed within you and I the freedom to do anything.
What happens next is unwritten. We can use our freedom to ensure that freedom for others continues. We can use our freedom for compassion. We can use our freedom to make this world a better place. We can even use our freedom to heal ourselves. God is willing to come with this freedom. Each decision in our life is an opportunity to embrace freedom and God.
Today opens itself as something unwritten. It is an unscripted journey of freedom.
We will build or tear down. We will give birth or destroy. We will live or die. It’s our choice.
