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I recently took my 6-year-old shopping for a toy he’d saved up for. While I was worried about how long we were taking and if the people in line behind us were annoyed, my son was simply excited to count out his dollars to purchase a toy. He was thrilled to get change back, and even more excited to rip open the packaging and play.
What says “freedom” to you? Summer’s here, and I feel like I’m hanging on for dear life. But when I think back to the days before I was simply trying to manage ALL THE THINGS, summertime signaled freedom. When I was my son’s age, the end of the school year meant unscheduled days of riding my bike to Time Saver or the neighborhood sno-ball stand and staying outside until the streetlights came on.
Naturally, we grow, things change, and we add more and more responsibilities to our plates (and bills – if only my pocketful of change I had then could go as far now!). But sometimes I wonder if I’ve added too many things to my to-do list. Sometimes, I think I’m carrying things I’m not meant to. Things like worrying about what others think of me, whether or not I’m doing it “right,” or thinking I need to know exactly what the future holds. Maybe you’re carrying things you weren’t meant to. What would it feel like to be truly FREE?
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” -2 Corinthians 3:17
The good news is, we ARE free – in Christ! I’m doing my best to let go of the things holding me captive and truly embrace the me that God created me to be. To rest in His love and trust Him with the things that weigh down my heart (and my secondhand ten speed bike that got me to Time Saver). In letting go and embracing God’s grace, there is true freedom. And the beauty in that is that when we live in freedom, we are free to love others well, too.
Psalm 119:45
John 8:36
Galatians 5:13