The Beat of Freedom

The normal charge for freedom is often heard “Freedom Isn’t Free.” Which is true, but my own personal plea may have to be “Freedom Isn’t Easy.”

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom.
Maria Von Ebner-Eschenbach

I suppose freedom isn’t easy for me because my self-control needs something similar to a tazer gun to keep it in check. Left on my own whims I can make hours disappear without a trace better than David Copperfield can make an elephant vanish. And at the end of both acts we are all left wondering how it is done. I can’t tell either. It’s a trade secret. Somehow I have managed to make vanishing hours multiply into days and now into weeks and the rhythm of writing got interrupted. I had a week of leave from work that included travel but also included time at home. I had freedom and I basked in it. But when it came time to rejoin my routine it was as daunting as trying to start a diet, “Just wait until Sunday and start the new week.” “Okay, start on Monday because Sunday is still part of the weekend.” Similar to learning how to jump into a turning rope, I’ve tried to find that place in the beat where you jump back in, and I don’t have a lot of athletic muscle memory to recall how it is done. Yet it’s a thrill to make it inside the loop while the ropes are turning, not starting with the rope flat on the ground waiting to start after you are ready, but to fall into the beat of the active rope, finding the rhythm of the rope with the ground with the pace of the turners. You have to feel the pulse, and then commit.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You are constant and steadfast. Give us the sensitivity to feel your beat, the initiative to join the rhythm, and the resolution to remain in step. We are likely to grow weary or short of breath, but you are resolute and continue the course. Let us purge our defenses and resolve our struggles to rejoin the marathon of your works. Let us fall into the tempo of the beating of our hearts, following your heart. Amen.

(The Message) Galatians 5:13-14It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom.