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Freedom!
Posted by Steve Holt on June 30, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Some may have forgotten what Independence Day is all about. Wikipedia offers this thumbnail:
In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1791 the first recorded use of the name “Independence Day” occurred. In 1820 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in Eastport, Maine which remains the largest in the state. In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees. In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.
Freedom comes in many forms. And who’s to say that one form of independence is more welcomed than another? I’ve never been enslaved by another person or government, so political independence doesn’t feel as much a gift for me as it probably does for Nelson Mandela, for example. But for years I was enslaved by tobacco and alcohol, and emancipation from those addictions still brings great joy and relief.
We are all addicted to something—recreation, sex, drugs, exercise, habits, work, food—and many addictions, no matter the form, are as enslaving as chains and as uncomfortable as a whip. I haven’t run across one drug addict that didn’t hate his “chain.”
We at Christian Homes often deal with couples who are enslaved by infertility. They so hope for the freedom of bearing children, like their friends and family all around them. But for whatever reason, they are not able to conceive. Lynn and I were there during the first years of our marriage and before our first son arrived. Being trapped in a situation beyond our control was as unsettling and painful as any addiction, any enslavement.
Adoption means liberation, freedom from the fetters of infertility. For couples who cannot bear their own children, adoption is as freeing as political release or addiction recovery.
Over the past 48 years, nearly 2,000 families have experienced Independence Day because Christian Homes & Family Services fought for their release.
Our God, from your sacred home you take care of orphans and protect widows. You find families for those who are lonely. You set prisoners free and let them prosper…(Ps. 68:5, 6)
Happy Independence Day!
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