Freedom

As Independence Day nears, I’m thinking about the word, freedom, and what it means to me. This is only what it means to me, mind you. I don’t know what it means to you or if you have thought about it.

I think about those brave souls who sailed in a frail boat across the Atlantic, longing for a place where they could worship God as they wanted. No king could insist that they do this or that, allow or disallow anything in their worship. They wanted to worship God according to their own consciences. It was important to them, so important that they left their homes, many of their families, much of their worldly possessions and set off to a country they had never seen and a life they had never known.

Freedom. How many lives have been lost so that you and I could live in freedom, so that we, not the government, can be in control of our lives?Is it important to us today? Are comfort and safety more important?

That wonderful document, The Declaration of Independence, begins  “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

The Declaration goes on to list the colonists’  grievances against the king of Great Britain. Can you imagine it? The courage, the determination, the absolute belief in freedom, that led this small, upstart nation to stand against the greatest power in the world. But, they did, and they pledged to each other their lives, their wealth, and their sacred honor. They valued freedom above their own comfort and safety. They did not want to live in a country where freedom did not exist and they were willing to put everything on the line, including their lives and all that they held dear.

Our Founding Fathers, I believe, were led by God and His wisdom as they framed the Declaration of Independence and our  Constitution. The Constitution has kept this country as a lighthouse to the world for nearly 250 years. It should not be changed to fit the situation. The situation should be changed to fit the Constitution.

Freedom. It reminds me of my parents and grandparents, and the framework of their lives. They believed in truth, integrity, hard work (and they worked very hard!) They believed it was up to them to obtain their goals and did not expect, want, or need anyone to give them anything. They wanted to earn it themselves. I think their beliefs came from something called pride, an attribute that is hard to glimpse any more. They believed in limited government, the worth of each individual, and the freedom to live their lives as they saw fit, within the framework of God’s law.

As Independence Day nears, the day that we celebrate being a Nation, free and independent of any other nation, let’s think seriously about what we are celebrating. Do we value our independence? Do we put freedom at the top of the list of our needs? This is a great and wonderful nation, the greatest that the world has ever known. There’s one thing that has made and will keep it that way – the value we put on freedom.