Celebration of the 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th of July

As I sit considering my story line for this post I am struggling to keep my eyes open.  I can't imagine why since for nearly a week now from around seven in the evening until one or so in the morning we listen to the incessant sound of firecrackers. Everything from pop pop pop to KA-BOOOOOM! filled our bedroom hour after hour.  Now I like to think that I have not become a grumpy old curmudgeon but to enjoy a blissful night's sleep versus a reenactment of Fallujah is a reasonable expectation.

Do you see the space between this paragraph and the preceding one?  I took a nap in that space.  I had to if I was going to finish my thoughts today.  You see this holiday is to be celebrated as it signifies our independence as a nation.  Whether you agree with what was done and the way it was accomplished is incidental to this conversation because the point is that we all prefer to live with freedom.  The sad thing is that the actual celebration of the day exemplifies the problem people have with freedom; it overwhelms them.

Freedom is the highest form of responsibility.  As a teenager I longed for greater freedom but in the wisdom of my parents I was protected from having too much too early.  It could have been my demise.  People want freedom but they don't know how to handle it and they fail to see how each free person must respect the other's freedom.  If that doesn't happen then one's freedom to sleep has no bearing on the other's freedom to blow up a firework at one in the morning.  And that is not really freedom, but is rather license. I can do whatever I want whenever I want. Is that what people died for?  Freedom must never be lived out inconsiderate of its impact on others otherwise the freedom becomes a new form of oppression.

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:19, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."  He adds in 10:23-24, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive.  Nobody should seek his own good but the good of others."  Now that's freedom understood.  Can you imagine if the nations understood this what the world would be like?  That won't happen until we figure out how to live like that with our neighbors next door.

I think I need another nap.  Peace.