Freedom

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I know better than to sweat the small stuff, really I do.  A major loss will teach you that;  I have lived long enough to experience loss, and to share with many others in their losses.  Things can be replaced, people cannot; neither can lost things that aren’t tangible, things like freedom.

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 Yesterday I ran the vacuum cleaner, that I picked out myself based on product research free to my access, in the home in the neighborhood and city and state I choose to live.  As I cleaned I discovered that those pesky brown spiders were back...in my living room, and I began…to sweat the small stuff.  

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I take the house I live in for granted.  I take my freedom for granted.  I have never gone to bed at night wondering if I was going to wake up the next morning and still be free.  Free to worship the God who created me without repercussions.  Free to share the good news of the freedom that can be found in Christ with others.  Free to work, to rest, to earn money, to spend it.  Free to take advantage or not take advantage of the ice cream shop Fourth of July special “Buy one, get one FREE”.

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 If like me you are free today, appreciate your freedom.  One way to not sweat the small stuff, is to focus your attention on the big stuff, like your freedom.  Hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July this year, celebrating and savoring your freedom.  Know what a privilege it is to be about as free as you choose to be, and pray for the many who aren’t free, such as these.  

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Of the over 7 billion people in the world, 60% live in countries which are not free.  

(Freedom House Global Findings, 2015)

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Of the 7 billion people in the world more than 10.1 million people are in prison.

(The World Prison Population List 9th Edition by Roy Walmsley, May 2011)

 

Nearly 36 million people live as slaves.

(Walk Free anti-slavery campaign group, November 2014)

 

Most of the world’s population, nearly ¾, lives with high levels of social and governmental restrictions on religion.

(Pew Research Center report per Religion News Services)

 

You can be free and not live free.

You can not be free and yet live unbound.

Let freedom ring.

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