Let freedom ring!

Happy Independence Weekend!  You knew it was a weekend and not just a day, right?  When a holiday falls so close to the weekend, we just take the extra few days and celebrate.  In fact, in my neighborhood, some people have been proclaiming their independence since Monday.  Every night.  Loudly.

How I celebrated my independence!

For most holidays, I tend to plan special meals but this year I just planned a special dessert inspired by the berry tarts featured in this month's Food Network Magazine.  I changed things up a little to make them gluten-free, so rather than a tart (think puff pastry), they came out more like shortbreads which is fine with me.  I topped them with fresh vanilla cream and fresh berries.  (Find the original recipe here.)  Have you tasted the berries this year?  Raspberries and blueberries are a staple in my fridge during the summers...I'm hopelessly addicted, I admit it.  So as I indulge, I remember that  berries are 85% water and antioxidant-rich, helping the body fight off inflammation, arthritis, memory and eye-related issues.

We watched fireworks at our local outdoor mall this year; they shoot them off the parking garage as a culmination to an afternoon of events such as a decorated kids' bike parade and watermelon eating contest.  The rain moved through just in time for families to gather in the viewing area to enjoy the scene.  (Let me pause here and say that I love fireworks.  Not enough to set them off myself - sparklers are my thing - I just watch them.  My boys, on the other hand....well, that's a story for another day.)  At some point during the display, I looked around and noticed the sheer joy and wonder on the faces in the crowd.  It seems that fireworks on the 4th of July does something for us - it brings us together.  We listen to patriotic music, we spend time with family and friends, we honor those who fought (and still fight) for our independence, and we blow things up, all in the name of our great country.  For one day, we are unified in purpose - to celebrate our freedom.  Somehow we forget that the other 364 days of the year, we merely tolerate one another in the spirit of political correctness.  But what if we lived everyday as we live on July 4th- in harmony with one another and reveling in the liberty of our citizenship in the United States?

It got me to thinking.  A similar "independence day" happened thousands of years ago on a hillside cross.  The sky was dark, yet there were no fireworks to light it up.  A crowd stood around and watched, united for one reason-to put to death a man whose actions they could not tolerate.  Our freedom from sin, guilt, shame, death, and hell was purchased on that day.  What if we lived every day walking in an awareness of that freedom?  Just as we often take our Constitutional rights and liberties for granted, sometimes we fail to fully appreciate the freedoms we have if we know Christ.  We walk bound up in chains of old habits and thought patterns that we can be free from if we only release them to Him and refuse to pick them up again.  All we have to do is ask.

"In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free." (Psalms 118:5)

In Christ, every day can be Independence Day.