FREEDOM

What does it REALLY mean to be FREE? With Memorial Day behind us, thoughts of my own “freedom” to BE ME came into my mind. I’m not actually sure when exactly I even felt that I COULD be ME. It was well into my adult life for sure, well after my marriage and most likely when we left and lived in Germany with no family influence. BUT, of course the military life for my husband Doug serving in  Germany during the Vietnam War was a whole different influence in our lives.

As we put out our own flag this year, I couldn’t help but tear up knowing that my own son is still serving in the Reserves and will be deployed overseas again soon. Memories can surface at the most difficult of times. But, he always reminds me that Memorial Day is NOT about him…it’s honoring those lost. FREEDOM… the expression usually comes in phrases designed to remind us that FREEDOM comes at a price. And yet, is there already a FREEDOM that we always possess?

Probably MOST of our country’s families are simply enjoying the unofficial start of summer! They are out enjoying celebrations of togetherness. This is also a deep and beautiful part of life!

We’ve heard all of the words of deep gratitude for those men and women who bravely served our country, but then did not come home. Most services focus on World War II veterans. My husband is a veteran of Vietnam Era, but, I will say that we felt very “protected” in Germany.  College and high school friends who served in Vietnam either did NOT come home, or they came home very different people suffering from PSTD when no one really understood it yet . I STILL had very little understanding of what life beyond death really meant, but I have always had a compassionate heart for people’s experiences. Compassion brings strength to our minds by lessoning fear and increasing confidence. That has been a practice all my life. I often WISH I had known and understood LIFE beyond our illusion of physical death back in my younger days of exposure to the ugliness of war.

The reality is that Memorial Day also commemorates all those huge sacrifices and pain experienced by all spouses, children, friends, and family left behind. Perhaps living in the reality of grief is the greater challenge. A loved one moving on to the Everlife reminds each of us to embody our human existence as we journey in the RIGHT now! Living in grief either consumes us or frees us following the difficult times.

Marj and I love our lives, KNOWING and living with the knowledge that loved ones remain with us even once they’ve departed their physical life. We live in the freedom to chose our thoughts, actions, and beliefs every minute of every day! Even in the most difficult places in and around our world where persecution is rampant, every person can and does choose their thoughts. It’s actually a bit scary to realize that I have actually CHOSEN to think and embrace concepts…even when I did not believe in them. I can only look back in my life and say, ” I THOUGHT God dictated to other people smarter and more educated than me and so I need to take on ‘THEIR’ beliefs.” Wow…what a learning curve!

I only bring this up today so each of us can truly step back and realize without a shadow of doubt that we have the FREEDOM to think and believe in our own way. There are SO many people around us who have not yet realized any of this. I am realizing more and more how important it is to simply speak up about the TRUTH that I know! Each and every day we DO and CAN make a difference in another person’s life.

“In the depths of solitude, one discovers not only the shadow that haunts the soul, but also the dormant seeds of self-realization waiting to bloom.” ~ Carl Jung

Marj and I talked so much about the seeds that had been planted in us so many years ago. We used that analogy when we first began speaking about our book, The Light GAP: God’s Amazing Presence. The idea is still TOTALLY and COMPLETELY true! YOUR seeds along with all of us here reading this post have been germinating, growing and blossoming!

I hope YOU will share your blossoming! Are there still dormant seeds of self realization waiting to bloom in YOU?

Aren’t we SO fortunate that we can not only enjoy our FREEDOM to choose our own beliefs, but we have the FREEDOM to express them, live them, and when it is appropriate… SHARE them with others in our lives!