I took this photo the other day while walking around an ancient cemetery somewhere off Highway 9.  As is always the case, cemeteries are solitary places, especially old ones that are isolated and difficult to reach.  This was a large graveyard that promoted itself as containing confederate graves.  Although I never really found the confederate graves, I was fascinated by this part of the security system which ran around the circumference of the cemetery.

          Several strands of this wicked looking barbed wire seemed to scream keep out; while at the same time, an equal portion appear to proclaim, no exit.  Apparently it is pretty effective; none of the residents had yet escaped and I was the only one brave (crazy) enough to enter.  While there is much more than this wire holding the inhabitants of this strange garden captive, I begin to ponder about you and me.  We who enjoy unprecedented freedoms the rest of the world cannot even imagine, yet we live as if we were slaves.

          We boast of our many and mighty freedoms; freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other, yet in spite of all these freedom, we live as if we do not possess them.  We fail to speak out about the things that matter most to us; we neglect to write words of comfort or encouragement to loved ones; we forget to vote and when was the last time we truly worshiped God?

          We have these freedoms, but, do they possess us?  We are in effect enslaved by our neglect.  If we do not use and enjoy our precious freedoms, bought with the blood of our fathers, we are no better off than those who do not possess freedom.  We have enslaved ourselves by disregard, disrespect and avoidance.  We have been set free to use our liberty and freedoms to love and serve one another.  The question is; are we using our freedoms or are we squandering and avoiding them?  We are free to live and enjoy life.  We can begin at this very moment if we wish too.  Today, set yourself free; jump over the fences that scream, keep out; break the chains that read, no exit.   Use your freedom; what have you got to lose?

Something to think about:

• We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number; but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of his freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.  -  Viktor E. Frankl

• A blind man’s world is bounded by the limits of his touch; an ignorant man’s world by the limits of his knowledge; a great man’s world by the limits of his vision.

• We often put a false barrier between what we call the secular and the sacred, limiting the way that God can touch us and express himself through us.

• Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will, we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely an excuse that we say things are impossible.

• Who has lost his freedom has nothing else to lose.

• God grants liberty only to those who love it.

Enjoying my newly found freedom
Rickey Moore