What is FREEDOM?
We hear this word used a lot, both in our personal culture and in terms of our nationality. I thought a lot about freedom, and what its meaning truly is. The Bible states that "the truth will set you free", and I wanted to define that state of freedom.
It may seem obvious that this freedom does not entitle us to do whatever we want. However, is that not what modern culture asserts? Freedom is being able to buy a motorcyle and ride cross-country, eat a half gallon of ice cream at midnight, or go out on the town at will. It is the freedom to do our OWN WILL, is it not?
An immature individual seeks that kind of freedom, but it soon grows unsatisfactory. The reason is that just because we CAN do something does not mean that we SHOULD do it. Where is the conscience, the self-restraint, the responsibility? We must exert our will to choose NOT to do those things which would harm us or others, and to choose TO do those things which would benefit the most people, perhaps but not necessarily including ourselves.
I do not believe that real freedom has one iota to do with action. Although freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, and freedom to vote are all wonderful and worthwhile things, we must go even further into the meaning of freedom.
TRUE FREEDOM IS FREEDOM FROM FEAR
What we are really saying above is that we should not have to FEAR speaking our minds, we should not have to FEAR worshipping in the way we choose, we should not have to FEAR not having a say in our government, we should not have to FEAR being discriminated against.
Personally, this important law still holds true. When we are truly free spirits, we do not fear man. We fear nothing that another person might do to hurt or harm us, in any way. We understand that God will take care of us and that the next life is better than the current one. We put our trust in that which is OUTSIDE of this world, OTHER than what we can see, and ABOVE all else.
The truth does set us free, and gives us the peace that we need to live without fear. Any freedom which falls short of this goal in a day and time when so many people live their lives in fear is not freedom at all, but bondage.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
BEYOND
I’m asking you to break my heart,
To shatter it and tear apart
The hardened fibers
Wound up tight
Around a core
That hides in fright
Of knowing what it may yet be
Uncovered and entirely free
To give and one day to receive
The love that you’ve designed for me
Apart from what I have believed
Or anything I can conceive –
That ministers in midst of grief
So burdensome and very deep
The soul would yearn for death to see
The face of heaven
Beyond flesh’s need.
KDC 2/08
To shatter it and tear apart
The hardened fibers
Wound up tight
Around a core
That hides in fright
Of knowing what it may yet be
Uncovered and entirely free
To give and one day to receive
The love that you’ve designed for me
Apart from what I have believed
Or anything I can conceive –
That ministers in midst of grief
So burdensome and very deep
The soul would yearn for death to see
The face of heaven
Beyond flesh’s need.
KDC 2/08
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Recent Poem
THE THORN
This is the thorn
That was given to me
To pierce the lie of vanity
And keep me searching day by day
To find the truth, the life, the way.
The goal is not to rid me of
This twisted way of viewing love,
Instead to make me humble as
The one who keeps me coming back
To find the straight and narrow path.
KDC 12/07
This is the thorn
That was given to me
To pierce the lie of vanity
And keep me searching day by day
To find the truth, the life, the way.
The goal is not to rid me of
This twisted way of viewing love,
Instead to make me humble as
The one who keeps me coming back
To find the straight and narrow path.
KDC 12/07
REMORSE
REMORSE
It feels like being punished
Just for being honest,
As if it wasn’t hard enough
Just to have the courage
To own the sin that I let in,
The sin that badly hurt us,
And beg to be forgiven
(Though I know I don’t deserve it)
So that nothing will be hidden
From the One who won’t desert us
When we’re reaching out for others
Who insist that they can’t learn us
And cringing from successive blows,
The repercussions still unknown,
While consequence brings pain that wasn’t worth it.
KDC 9/07
It feels like being punished
Just for being honest,
As if it wasn’t hard enough
Just to have the courage
To own the sin that I let in,
The sin that badly hurt us,
And beg to be forgiven
(Though I know I don’t deserve it)
So that nothing will be hidden
From the One who won’t desert us
When we’re reaching out for others
Who insist that they can’t learn us
And cringing from successive blows,
The repercussions still unknown,
While consequence brings pain that wasn’t worth it.
KDC 9/07
Something's Missing
Something’s Missing
My heart is heavy in my chest
And though I try my very best
My mind won’t give your face a rest
From suffering these long affects.
I sometimes think I can’t believe
That you have really had to leave
This awesome synchronicity
And how it made our lives complete.
The sadness surely once will go,
Retiring to the ground like snow
And settling deep within, I know,
Although the change in time is slow.
This distance doesn’t mean a thing
To us who to each other cling
For something that our soul’s can bring,
The wind beneath another’s wings.
KDC
2/07
My heart is heavy in my chest
And though I try my very best
My mind won’t give your face a rest
From suffering these long affects.
I sometimes think I can’t believe
That you have really had to leave
This awesome synchronicity
And how it made our lives complete.
The sadness surely once will go,
Retiring to the ground like snow
And settling deep within, I know,
Although the change in time is slow.
This distance doesn’t mean a thing
To us who to each other cling
For something that our soul’s can bring,
The wind beneath another’s wings.
KDC
2/07
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