By Bradley Robertson
It is my conclusion that the happiest and most content people I know are those who are able to freely love anyone.
These people walk into any space and place and cast no judgement on others. They carry peace upon their shoulders and walk with humility on their feet. They offer all they have and expect nothing in return. They are free give free to love.
As happy as I think I am, I began to wonder… Am I living in freedom?
And how about my neighbor and fellow countrymen, are we all actually residing “in the land of the free?”
Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
It takes zero time today to see that hostility is our force. Our sense of freedom is covered up by harsh words, personal motives, anger and entitlement.
The freedom we want as Americans can barely be seen. Our actions do not appear to be matching up with freedom.
We want to feel free, yet are we offering that same sense of freedom to others?
Didn’t Newton warn us that, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”?
I don’t know about you, but it sure would be nice if we thought of this reaction before we moved in motion.
I was compelled to watch the famous MLK speech last week. “Let freedom ring,” he said so many years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also filled with dreams, and since I too am a dreamer, I figured there must be something there.
Here are a few of his words from “I Have a Dream,” Aug. 28, 1963.
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair…
Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream rooted deeply in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’…
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character… I have a dream today.
I have a dream that … one day right down in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today….
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day…
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning ‘My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let Freedom ring…’
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true… and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children… will be able to join hands and sing… Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
I do not think we can be free unless we first offer freedom to others. We want something, yet we are not as willing to give it.
I have dreams too, as we all do. However, my dreams for the future are useless if I do not cast the first stone of freedom to others…
“I have a dream that my children will be kind to each other.
I have a dream that there will be more awareness and support for special needs families.
I have a dream that my table will hold more culture and difference.
I have a dream that my husband’s business will be abundant.
I have a dream that my path will be one of peace.
I have a dream that my children will feel safe in their country.
I have a dream that Jesus will be known and seen.
I have a dream that I can take my children on missions outside our borders.
I have a dream that food isn’t scarce for anyone.
I have a dream that a cure is found for Friedreich’s Ataxia.
I have a dream that people listen instead of condemn.
I have a dream of being a better version of me…”
Now what is your dream? What kind of freedom do you want?
Now go and be the things you dream about, and watch freedom unfold.