A Moment of Freedom

What is a moment of freedom? Is it freedom from responsibility; worry; stress; a job you hate?

Freedom means many things. At times, it is the blissful silence when the baby finally stops crying and you can sleep. Or it is when all the children are out the door to school and you have your day ahead of you. Or it is when the house quiets at night and you settle in to unwind. Freedom can also mean not worrying about what you're going to eat or wear. Or that you won't be killed by a passing marauder. Freedom means different things to each of us at different times in our lives.

For me, at this season of my life, a moment of freedom is the time I have to sit on the swing with my favorite book -- which is the one I am reading at the time. I sit and swing and read and listen to the sounds of nature around me. No unwanted phone calls; no fax to send or receive. No one asks me to do anything I don't want to do. No one criticizes me for just sitting and relaxing. I am completely on my own to do or think anything I want. I could go in the house, take a walk, lie down to rest or go somewhere.

Money brings freedom of a kind if we are not slaves to work, not obsessed with having more. It can also give us the means to travel and experience new things from anywhere in the world. And, of course, money frees us from worry by providing our basic neccessities of life: food & shelter.

A moment, though, is such a short time frame. A time to relax and enjoy my surroundings. Sometimes freedom is the ability to share that time, money and space with friends or family. The point being that it is my choice to do exactly what I want at any given time. Very seldom in my adult life have I had such complete freedom. I feel constrained by money, the duties of a job and the needs of my family. Guilt drives me from my time on the swing to work in the house or office. Seldom do I do what I want to do instead of what needs to be done.


This is simple freedom, but true freedom is my freedom in Christ. My freedom from sin, from spiritual death, from separation from God. Freedom to love, to serve, to worship, to fellowship, to life. This freedom lasts more than a moment. It lasts a lifetime and beyond.