Freedom

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I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom lately. Partly because we are closing in on Independence Day, the day our whole country celebrates freedom, and partly because of all the freedoms passed down, as of late, by our Supreme Court. What is freedom? It seems everyone has a different idea.

Here’s what Webster had to say:

Definition of FREEDOM

1
:  the quality or state of being free: as

a :  the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

b :  liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another :  independence

c :  the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous <freedomfrom care>

d :  ease, facility <spoke the language with freedom>

e :  the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken <answered with freedom>

f :  improper familiarity

g :  boldness of conception or execution 

h :  unrestricted use <gave him the freedom of their home>

2
a :  a political right
That’s a lot. Do I have any of those? I guess I do in some areas. Politically I am afforded many freedoms. I am often outspoken or frank and I have a habit of executing things boldly. The others are sketchy.
A state of being? As in an absence of necessity? Liberated from restraint or power of another?
No. I don’t have freedom in all those areas. But I could.
“This precious treasure – it’s light and power that now shine within us – and is held in a perishable container, that is, our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit.”(2 Corinthians 4:7-8)
I’ve been trapped for some time by hurts, habits, and hang-ups; I’ve been enslaved to myself and my selfish ways. I know God and I love him but I continue to live like my life depends on me and my decisions. I forget that anything good in me is from him.
This week I’m walking through Principle 2/Lesson 4 in the Celebrate Recovery 12-step. Sanity is a hard lesson to work on because I have to ask myself, “What things have I been doing over and over again, expecting a different result each time?”
There’s so much. So many things. So many places. I don’t want to be enslaved to my sinful ways anymore. I want freedom. I want to become a new person inside like the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17. I want to receive the power and hope to start living one day at a time and to trust that Jesus has a complete hold on tomorrow. That sounds like freedom to me.

 

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