WALKING WITH OUR KIDS AND OTHERS

Helping others along the way while at the same time not intruding on their freedom is a challenging activity for us humans. But it can be done. And it takes a lot of patience and mindful presence from the one who is walking alongside another with the hope of them finding the freedom that resides inside them and longs to be awakened to and lived from. It's the thing all humans really long for. We just spend a lot of days confused about what it is and where it is found. This observation from Jacques Ellul has become one of those guides to help me in this task of engaging with others: "In order to live, we need truth to be expressed by the most fragile agent, so that the listener remains free."

There is not anyone I engage with that freedom is not what I am thinking about. My freedom and theirs. And there is no engagement in my life with others at this time that is more important to me then my relationships with these three beautiful young ladies I have the privilege of calling daughters. But they are my daughters, not my property to own and control. I must always remember to respect and honor them and the freedom their creator gives to them, as he does me also, every moment of everyday. Which brings me to another observation from Mr. Ellul that has traveled with me everyday now since I first read it: "The biblical God lets us make our own history, and goes with us on the more or less unheard-of adventures we concoct."

Aren't we all to some degree caught up in concocting more or less unheard-of adventures? Aren't we all in need of a most fragile (yet wise and free and alive) traveling companion? And we don't need any more functionaries of the law.