Galatians 5:13-14

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
For all in the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Galatians 5:13-14


So, liberty is interesting.  My favorite scripture about liberty is in second Corinthians... says "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" ... I think that this scripture says something similar... it tells us that we have been given liberty... freedom of choice, a free hand in determining what we want to do on this earth.  But what we use our liberty for matters a lot.  We have all this freedom and sometimes we are pretty scary with it.  I think that we realize that on a personal level at times... when we get ourselves into a lot of debt, when we get overly angry about something... when we hurt someone that we love.  We use our liberty badly sometimes, and realize how destructive we can be.  Sometimes in our paths of destruction we destroy parts of our own liberty.  We develop addictions and feel compelled to return to them, despite wanting to escape in our more lucid moments.  Those take a lot of time and work to overcome, and a lot of help from our Heavenly Father.  This scripture shows us how not to use our liberty to destroy ourselves... and what is the answer?  A pretty common answer in the scriptures: love.  Love people, and serve them.  Sometimes we think... this is only hurting me, it isn't hurting anyone else.  But that is never, never true.  We are a human family, and something that affects one of us, affects all of us.  Our addictions and bad choices can distance us from friends and family... destroy relationships.  Our personal feelings of remorse or guilt can cause us to withdraw from the people who love us, and cause intense personal pain, impeding our freedom to be happy and guilt-free.  And I am not saying that we should go around cutting off people who make bad choices... that is the *last* thing that we need to do... in fact... not last, not even on the list.  What I *am* saying is that when we treat people as we wish to be treated... love our neighbors as ourselves... then we gain more freedom, and more safety, and more peace... instead of losing them in bad gambles.  Treating other people as you wish to be treated, instead of throwing up protective barriers, takes risk... vulnerability.   When we give we might not receive... when we love, we might not be loved in return.  But no matter what happens, we are opening the doors.  We are extending the boundaries instead of building walls... we are loving and serving and offering ourselves, sincerity, goodness... a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  When we choose to love, we choose freedom.  We choose to see the choices that might hurt us, and even when hurt, we see the choices other than anger, revenge, or building the walls thicker and higher.  So, today... let's choose to love, choose to communicate.  Let's not choose things that will make us hate ourselves and limit our freedom.