John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

I had a pretty profound dream the other night. I went into a church to light a candle for someone that was on my heart. I went over to the candles and I saw the flints to light them lying there. The candle I knelt in front of was in a glass votive and had a glass covering. Focused on the image in my heart, I held the candle steady with my right hand and lifted the glass covering off of it with my left hand. In the same fluid motion of the lifting of the glass,……………. the candle lit itself, in a burst of light and love. The light didn’t need to be sparked. It just needed to come out from inside. It just needed--- to be set free.

Freedom is the topic. I decided to stay away from politics and instead go to the depths of the heart/ the spirit. I’m not sure which path would have been safer but I was led to choose this one. On that path, I was led to my old friend Webster. I looked up the word freedom in the dictionary. I picked a meaning. And so on and so on……

Freedom: The ability to move or act freely. Candor.
 

Candor: Sincere and honest _expression.
 

Sincere: Being what it seems to be. Genuine.
 

Genuine: Being just what it seems to be. Real.
 

I found this word journey interesting because it led me to what I was going to say anyway: That the key to freedom of your heart and of your spirit---- is the word REAL.
 

Here’s a silly example. Linda doesn’t like carrots. I sincerely don’t. I keep trying to like carrots, but I don’t. It doesn’t bother me. It bothers other people, especially people who love carrots. I don’t want to eat carrots your way because then I’ll like them. I don’t want to try your great aunt’s carrot recipe. I genuinely don’t like carrots! And that’s ok! If we all liked carrots, I’m thinking there would be a severe carrot shortage. Consider me keeping the carrot prices lower by lowering the demand. Linda doesn’t like carrots. She really doesn’t. Really.
 

Freedom comes from being real. Genuine. Sincere. Honest. Being true to yourself. The you, inside of you. True to your heart. Letting your heart out --letting that light out --- setting it free. When you truly follow your heart, you find this amazing peace. This is amazing freedom. If God is inside of your heart --and you listen to your heart -- then you are listening to God.
 

I like the difference in the dictionary between “Sincere” and “Genuine“. Although genuine seems to be saying the same thing as sincere, it says so much more.
 

Sincere, is “being what it seems to be.” If I am a sincere person then, “What you see is what you get.” If my words are sincere then I am saying what I feel. If my feelings are sincere then I am feeling what I believe. And if my heart is sincere…..then all of the above are true and it all revolves around God because that is what I believe in. God. That is where my heart lives. ...with Him. The word genuine injects the word “just” into the meaning, which says all of what sincere says, but it also says something equally important: Being just what it seems to be, nothing more, and nothing less. There’s nothing else to see. There isn’t a hidden game going on. No hidden agenda. What you see is what you get, the words are sincere, the feelings come from belief, the belief comes from God --- and you better believe that what you see and what you’ll get, is real. Real.”
 

Some people don’t know how to be real. I don’t really understand that because I don’t know how not to be real. A young child doesn’t think about “being” -- he just “is”. Adults think too much about it, instead of just “being”. It’s scary putting yourself out there like that-- and don’t think I haven’t been hurt by doing just that, but why would I choose to be someone or something I am not? It seems like it would take an enormous amount of energy to be something I am not -- to feel something I don’t--- to believe something I can’t. That’s pretending. That’s not real.
 

In being real, there is a freedom. It’s like being a child, but full-grown. You don’t have to think about “being” -- you just “are”. It’s like when you dress a child in clothes that someone else picked out for them. Instantly you can see their discomfort at “not being themselves”. No matter how many times you tell them how wonderful they look, the only thing they notice is that the clothes are scratchy or hot or uncomfortable. And even if they are the right size--- they just don’t “fit”.
 

Only I know how to be the real Linda. Scratch that -- I know -- and God knows -- and let me tell you He kicks me in my pants when I am not being true to myself. There is no peace when I am living outside of my heart. He made this Linda! He knows this heart because He made this heart. He knows the loves, which is in my heart. (The dislike of carrots.) He knows where my passions lie. He wants me to be true to that because he knows that I strive (I’m trying!) in all I do and say to be true to Him. He is the one who made both this plan and me for me. He’s put it on my heart. If I start to try to “fit in”, pretend to be, or do what is contrary to what I believe or to what my heart is telling me--- I am not being real. If I am living in a “pretend” environment where my heart is not there…what is the point of my body being there? If my heart isn’t there……..and God is in my heart …………then God isn’t there. If God isn’t there………….what the heck am I doing there????
 

If I am going against my heart, and my heart is wrapped around God, then whom do you think I am going against??? Do you think there is a minute’s freedom in that? Do you think there is a minute’s peace?
 

Being a ridiculously visual person, I was visualizing peace and freedom and it wasn’t hard to come up with some scenarios. Of course I came up with the beach. Then my thoughts led me to being on the boat on the water……..without carrots……..and I actually drifted into quite the daydream……..being a lover of the water and an even bigger lover of the beautiful natural “real” scenery you encounter out on the water. You know what though? You could take all of the scenery away and I would be mesmerized for hours with the sparkle of the sun on the water and the waves…time after time after time…………….
 

Anyway….I was likening freedom to boating on a lake or on the bay. You feel like you are sooo free out there on the water. Really free. Yet that freedom is actually contained within the perimeters of the shore. You can literally lose yourself out there yet you will never be lost as long as you keep sight of the shore.
 

It reminded me of the freedom of “sailing” within God’s will, being true to your heart. There is such freedom yet it is so safe knowing there is a shoreline all around you on all sides. You are free to sail and you are free to be. You are free to go wherever it takes you. Sometimes the waters get rough and yeah, there are storms. Yet there is a soft cushion of sand, which will always surround you, cradle you and hold you within. Safe. Yet free. Being free-- yet feeling safe. Is there any better feeling?
 

Freedom in God is the same. You get to “be”. You are supposed to be. To be “real”. ..To be “yourself”, true to your heart, because that heart, that love, that passion, ----- God put into you.
 

I said something to a parent friend of mine once, who was quite frustrated that their child wasn’t interested in the sport that they were interested in. I said, “You know…….. you have already been done. God’s not going to make another you.”
 

The love that is inside you, the passion that is there-- all that makes you uniquely you --was put there by God. That light -- that love. It doesn’t need to be sparked -- it’s already there. You just need to let it out -- you need to set it free.
 

Let it out!!!! Let you out!!!! Shout it out, sing it out, and find a way to get it out!!! Free it!!! Free your heart--- and then live that passion with everything that you have. Free--- yet safe, within God’s hands.
 

The shores of God’s love safely shield your course. If you are His, then believe me, He only wants you to be true to your heart………….because that heart…..belongs to Him.

Be free--- feel safe----- and always notice how gorgeous that water is when the sun hits it just right……………………. …………… and it sparkles……………….

“Images in view--of a child without a care…of laughter in the air…….”