The Freedom of Spring

Just a small thought as I sit here in the Corum, enjoying the supreme comfort of the coveted corner couch up by the pool tables and the beautiful sunshine outside. :-)

I was driving to campus this morning (side note: in retrospect, I have no idea why I drove on such a gorgeous day....habit, I suppose) and my white cord bracelet I am wearing caught my eye. For those of you who don't know, International Justice Mission passed out these bracelets for people to wear as a reminder to pray for the 27 million people currently enslaved around the world. So I said a quick prayer for those enslaved and an image came to mind. As I was driving with the sun beaming in and the windows down, the cool air flowing through my car, I realized that this is what freedom feels like.

My freedom in Christ is so absolutely wonderful, like driving with the windows down on a beautiful day (only better! haha) But I liken the feeling of being chained to sin like having to drive on a nasty winter day. The snow is coming down so hard you can barely see and the wind is blowing below zero, and you try to open your car but the doors are iced shut. You finally manage to make it into your car, covered in snow, and you start your car. You're late so you don't have time to let it warm up. This picture of yourself: soaking wet, shivering and miserable, so cold that you are in pain, and sluggishly driving through hazardous conditions, this is the life of a sinner.

In stark contrast, the liberation from this dank, freezing, prison of an image is the day like today when you can drive easily, the breeze blowing in your hair and the sun warm on your skin. The carefree feeling that, yes, you do have things to get done, but the knowledge that those things don't really matter as much as the freedom you feel right then. That is like a life free in Christ. Yes, we are called to do things, often scary things. And we likely can't just stop living and call a time-out so we can solely experience Christ's freedom. But we can prioritize, and realize that all the stuff on our to-do lists is minor. The focus and the purpose of that moment, the overriding feeling all day long (and all life long) is the freedom from sin that Christ has given us and the broken chains we have to show for it.