Independence Day

Indeed it is the 4th of July and the day has gone - almost all gone. Will and Joshua have gone to watch the fireworks with friends on their boat at Kemah on Galveston Bay and I stayed at home for fear that my allergies will get worse. I hear the fireworks and they sound lovely and loud. How wonderful are the sounds of celebration for INDEPENDENCE! Freedom is not to be taken lightly or carelessly or for granted. Not all people in the whole world have it. Many don't have independence. Many people live in the bondage of many different kinds. Are you free from bondage? should some one ask me that question I wonder what my answer would be. I suppose I would ask back, "Do you have time to listen to an honest answer? or would you like me to be polite?" This got me thinking, how often we in this great country of the U.S.A ask people a simple question like, "How are you?" fully expecting the other person to say, "Fine" or "I am ok" or "Doing well" or "Great!" We are most always in a hurry not making time to listen to each other, to actually hear how the other people are doing. I remember Sven Jonsson, an elder of my last Church who happened to be also a physician. In the church hallways on Sunday mornings and sometimes on Wednesday evenings Sven would say to people, "How are you?" and I often remember him asking a second question, "how are you really? please tell me". I saw him so many times making the time and listening to the person who answered. Most people would be surprised that he would want to know how they are outside of his office. Why? We all live in a country of freedom and time is a gift from God. Time is free for us not only to be productive but also to rest and refill our energy. Even Jesus went away from all busyness to be in prayer and meditation. ................. My! what a chain of consciousness all of that was!!