Three Ways to Make the Most of Our Freedom

"Hold your own, know your name, go your own way." Jason Mraz - Details in the Fabric.

Freedom! I sometimes think that’s a strange concept. Something that has been prized by humans for millennia, something to die for, to kill for, to sacrifice everything for – apparently! 

Many of us actually have more freedom than ever before. Freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom to vote on reality TV...etc.

Sometimes I think we’ve forgotten what that freedom actually means and why we even wanted it in the first place. 

It’s easy to become apathetic, to take it for granted and just drift through life without really ever standing for anything, without ever really exercising our freedom in a constructive way. Maybe we don’t even really think about our freedom and how precious it is until something threatens it. 

The Courageous Seed

"One isn't necessarily born with courage but one is born with potential." Maya Angelo

 

It’s perhaps an unlikely symbol of courage, the humble seed. Who would have thought that a simple seed is an almost perfect metaphor of courage?

Think about it for a moment. As it lies in the soil, encased in its hard shell, it could comfortably lie there forever. Packed into its tiny casing though, is a huge potential. Everything needed for it to break out and grow into a mighty tree, a tree that could give birth to thousands more seeds, a tree that could provide food and homes for the creatures of the forest. Right now though, it’s just a tiny seed.

When that seed feels the first drops of water filtering down through the soil and wetting its shell it has a choice; to stay in the safety and security of its hard shell, to stay in the world it knows, or to break out into the unknown in search of its true potential.