Independence?

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Independence?
That is some loaded word! For me, it conjures up quite a lot of thoughts. For many, today, it means Independence Day! Here in the United States of America we celebrate- every July fourth- the signing of our Declaration of Independence by our founding forefathers back in 1776! I don’t remember ever NOT knowing that date! I have now passed on that information to my children along with other traditions that go with the day. I suppose everyone has their own set of traditions, but most include fireworks of some kind somewhere! Nothing says you are happy and joyous and celebrating as much as fireworks shooting up in the air with their brilliant light falling down all around you!

Fireworks. You definitely think of fireworks when you hear the word independence. I grew up being taught that they were VERY dangerous. I had been told over and over and over again to leave them to the professionals. I was informed in a most serious manner that if you attempted to set off fireworks yourself you would be maimed, disfigured or killed! I never did anything more than swing a sparkler around, which now they say reaches a dangerous 1200 degrees! I never got burned, though, as a child. No one ever lost an eye either. And now after a decade of watching my husband set off fireworks with his sons…well…I was going to say…but I am not going to now. I just can’t bring myself to say it aloud. I will say we have been graciously blessed and protected. It goes against every fiber of my being as I watch. And every year at this time it is a trial for me. I can’t quite hear the word independence without thinking of fireworks and how vastly different my boys are being raised to think of them compared to how I was raised to look at them! You just never know, do you? LOL!

Lately these days independence has taken on a whole new meaning as we deal with teens and their new found adventures and freedoms and the testing of their wings! I can’t quite hear independence without a few thoughts going in that direction as well.

Independence Day. Is there such a thing as independence? Surely, we are all dependent upon something or someone. I can’t hear that word independence without stopping also to realize it isn’t true. As a Christian, I am always and forever dependent upon Christ my Savior and His atoning blood. Even more than that, though, I need His grace and His power and His strength every single day. Truly I do.

I remember a time, early on in my conversion, a song where the songwriter declared that God was the very air that he breathed and that he needed Him every moment of every day. I remember thinking to myself. I asked myself if I could say the same. Of course I knew that life itself was dependent upon God. I knew that He kept the world going around on its axis, and surely we would all perish if He forgot us for even one millisecond. I meant more personally. I meant, in my day to day moments, did I sense a true need of HIM in my life. Was He truly the air that I breathed? I would have to say that back then I was shocked and saddened to realize that the answer was no.

Funny, because I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t make that answer be yes, deep down in my heart. A lot of events and trials and tribulations have come my way since then. A LOT! They’re not likely to be the same trials as the next person’s. Some of mine are likely worse than others. Some of mine are likely nothing compared to another’s suffering. I can sit here now and say, without reservation, that He is the very air that I breathe. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that without His strength and love and grace and the joy I find in HIM, I couldn’t make it day to day. It has been the trials, the pain and the suffering that has driven that home for me. It has been in those moments, when I came to the end of myself, that I realized how much God was there. It has been those moments, when for a time it seemed that there was no one who cared, no one who loved me, who wouldn’t betray me or disappoint me, that I realized God is my very best friend. There is one who sticks closer than a brother! Amen. I would never in a million years ask for those trials to come again. I would never pray for hard times. Yet, it was in those hard times that my faith was deepened. It’s okay though. I don’t have to ask for them. God will allow them as He sees fit to sanctify me and finish the good work He has begun in me. Thank You, Lord.

Independence? No. I am certainly not independent. I need my God each and every moment. BUT I can appreciate on this day the freedoms He has bestowed on me through this country I live in. Because I live where I do, I can openly write what I am writing now, declaring my dependence upon my God. Because of the freedom allowed by the laws of this land, I need not fear imprisonment or torture or death because I declare boldly I am a follower of Jesus Christ. That simply isn’t the case in every country around the world. I am very grateful for that.

I am grateful for the men AND women who have died to protect that freedom. I know that my freedom in Christ was not free. I was bought by the blood of Christ. Neither is the freedom we enjoy in our nation free for the taking either. Many shed their blood to establish this nation. Many have shed their blood to keep this nation. So many young people have died protecting the freedoms I wake up with every day! There are many parents who on this day know the awful and painful realization of what it costs to have our freedom. They are without their sons or their daughters or their husbands or fathers. It is a painful realization they endure moment to moment. Independence? No, we are all dependent on those lost men and women and their comrades still defending us!

I am sure that the families of those lost loved ones have an appreciation of the freedom they enjoy that is so much greater than any appreciation I can have. It is an appreciation brought on by their life experience and pain of losing a loved one who died protecting it. Just as it took true, difficult and painful trials for me to truly KNOW in my heart that I cannot live without my God, they too, have come to a deeper understanding of the meaning of the cost of freedom. Though I can’t appreciate it the way they do, I do like to stop and thank my God for my freedom in Christ, my freedom enjoyed in this nation, and for all the sacrifices defending that very freedom made by mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and sons and daughters all over this land.

Today is July 4, 2007. It is a day we’ve celebrated our Independence Day for the past 231 years. A day we declared ourselves free from the tyranny of England. In that way it is remembered as independence. Truly, though, it just might as well be called dependence day. We are all dependent on the protection afforded us by the brave and courageous men and women in the armed forces. Thank You, Jesus, for their honorable service and sacrifice! Please bless and keep them and their families, not only on this day but every day.

More importantly though, for me, I recognize that we are all dependent on the God of this universe, which saw fit to bless this young nation with so much in such a short period of time. His hand has clearly been on us. He has blessed us over and over again. I pray this July 4th that our nation would realize that without His power, His grace, His protection, we are not a great nation. It is my prayer that the powers that be are on their knees daily seeking His face and His wisdom as they guide our country. For, we are truly dependent on His mercy and His grace. May His kingdom come and His will be done in our country, in our world, in heaven and on earth.

Funny, it is in the place of being dependent that I have found the most freedom. May our nation as a whole also know the freedom there is in being dependent! Dependent on Jesus Christ. Independence Day? Well…semantics maybe. We are certainly not independent. Let freedom ring in our dependence-in our dependence upon God. For without Christ, true freedom can never ring! To God be the glory!