Warrior Poets {Thoughts On Freedom}

I often hear people say that they wish they could be a kid again, to be without a care in the world and without the responsibilities that come with being an adult. And I get it; I really do. There are parts of childhood that I suppose I might like to revisit…like innocent discoveries and imaginative play…but those are things I can relive with my own children.

The truth is I’m one of the weirdos who enjoys being an adult. I like cooking whatever I feel like eating for dinner and staying up late and planning vacations and choosing where to live and what to buy. Even as hard as it is sometimes, I like being in charge of my own life. I like being free. Independent.

It might be easier to lack responsibility, but I wouldn’t trade my freedom for the dependence that comes with unaccountability. Boundaries, though often necessary, are only worthwhile when you can trust the source from which they come. There are few sources that I trust with such a power. The only good boundaries come from a place of love.

I often wonder what kind of world my children will grow up in. Will they experience freedom in the same way I have? Do I experience the same level of freedom that my grandparents did? Blood has been shed over securing the right to freedom, and yet there are those who would be so quick to relinquish it for the very little they think they might gain.

From where one person stands, it’s hard to gauge freedom as it has been experienced in different times and distant places, but it’s clear that the world is changing – because it always has been. It morphs into something new with each passing moment, and it often feels as though there is little we can do to impact how it changes.

We can, however, choose the sources that we trust. And we can fight for what we know is ours.

The choices that we make – they are only made possible by the fact that we are free to make them.

I put Hannah down for her nap a while ago, and as I typed this post, I heard “Jesus Loves Me” coming from the other room. She has a stuffed lamb that plays it, and she was winding it up over and over, listening to the music until she fell asleep. It told me that she's at peace with her source of love and boundaries.

There is so much liberation in that.