Freedom

This morning as I was drinking my morning coffee Sarah, while preparing to leave for preschool, remembered to hand me a mailer that I’d received in the mail at my parents’ home.  The note was short and to the point as it ended with these words, “We help people like you everyday.  Let us help you too…” and closing by saying these profound words, “We look forward to helping you rediscover your freedom and independence.”

What my parents would normally discard as old junk mail was saved to be sent to me via my younger sister, Alyson through Sarah.  Intending this note to be sent in jest, the joke rang true…for whatever reason, somebody had attached me to phone calls and, yes, constant mailings from The SCOOTER Store! (Are any of you reading this the culprit?)

At any rate, I have quietly received these phone calls and messages without telling a soul.  In fact I’ve been getting these calls from The SCOOTER Store for about a year now and have told nobody!  Its been a sore spot with me!  I haven’t wanted to tell anyone.  In my desire to control the conversation, I have remained silent.  In my selfish need to not be the butt of others’ jokes I’ve told nobody.  In the midst of my pride, I have wanted to keep the upper hand by not revealing my embarrassing secret calls from this store for the disabled!

For me this brings up so many cracks in my own faith journey…so many ways that I’ve allowed myself to live in a state of captivity and depravity, spiritually.  My all time favorite scripture HAS to be Luke 4: 18-19 when Jesus proclaims in the synagogue that he has been sent to Israel essentially by YHWH “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”  In his first proclamation…his first sermon…he interprets this ancient text from Isaiah 64 as prophecy revealed…and fulfilled through himself.  His first words to the public are that FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE have come!

As I sit here typing on Sarah’s computer because MY own computer is now dead…As I sit here $2,300 short because I had to replace MY transmission in MY automobile…As I wear MY tie and MY dress shoes…As I think about the thousands of dollars that I owe to bank in MY student loans, I wonder if I have truly FOUND freedom and independence?  As we grow older and the pains of our humanity increase, have we found freedom and independence?  As the trials of life grow more and more prevailing in our realities are we finding freedom and independence?

I don’t know. I don’t know.  At this point I am banking on the hope that FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE comes when we give those debts and possessions to Christ!  As I walk forward I am unnerved by my own tendencies to dwell on the dumb stuff like laptops and car parts while I overlook the real needs of this world.  I seem to do it daily and in doing so, I have become enslaved by my own corruptive selfish ways and mindless complexities.  Meanwhile all that should matter is community in Christ!  All that should matter is “HELPING OTHERS TO REDISCOVER THEIR FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE.”

I give thanks for community…and pray that I will remember in the days and years to come what true freedom looks like.

AND, Dear friend, if you are the joker that sent me this reminder for rediscovery of my freedom and independence…THANK YOU. Praise be to God!