FREEDOM
Often we are captive of our own doing,
though the bars are not visible at first.
They are made of wanting,
of needing,
of the quiet belief that freedom waits somewhere ahead.
Freedom does not hold one meaning.
It speaks differently to each heart.
Many seek it through gaining—
more security, more control, more certainty.
And for a time, this feels right.
Necessary, even.
But along the way, something subtle forms.
A weight carried beside all that is acquired.
A bondage we did not know we were entering
until we stop
and stand with ourselves.
Jesus knew this kind of captivity.
He did not bring his disciples to freedom by adding to their lives,
but by inviting them into truth.
He knew them before they knew themselves.
“You will know the truth,” he said,
“and the truth will set you free.”
They left their nets, yes—
but more than that, they left what defined them before they followed him.
What once told them who they were,
and who they were allowed to be.
This is the freedom we often overlook
as we begin walking our own paths.
We gather what we want.
We secure what we believe we need.
And all of this has value.
But if we are listening,
the heart eventually reveals something deeper—
that freedom is not found in what is gained,
but in what we are willing to stand for, within ourselves.
Freedom can mean only one thing:
Truth.
Standing in truth—
even when it leaves something behind.
Even when it asks us to release an identity,
a certainty,
a life once imagined.
And when we do,
the breath deepens.
The body softens.
We realize we are no longer bound.
We breathe—
and freedom stands
as truth.
Jesus spoke of freedom not as escape,
but as truth revealed.
He did not lead his disciples toward safety,
but toward clarity.
What they released was not merely possession, only the weight of a identity that left out their inner self.
“You will know the truth,” he said,
“and the truth will set you free.”
Freedom, then, is not the absence of obligation,
nor the promise of ease.
It is the moment one can no longer live
outside what the heart knows to be right.
When endurance gives way to alignment of one’s self.
When peace is no longer negotiated.
Along every life, there comes a point
where the question is no longer what can I keep,
but what must be honored.
Some freedoms cost what once felt necessary.
Others require leaving behind what no longer sustains life.
The path forward is rarely explained in advance.
Freedom does not offer a map—
only breath.
Only space.
Only the quiet recognition
that truth, once chosen,
cannot be undone.
This is how freedom lives.
Not as declaration,
but as integrity made breathable.
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
