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01-19-2007, 08:42 AM
Fiber for the Soul--The Freedom Factor
Two months after finishing college in December 1966 I
was drafted into the military, and after boot camp
found there were two types of soldiers. One type
fought the system for two years because they couldn't
adjust to military style discipline. The other type,
(which I hoped to be) learned hard lessons from their
time of service to our country. These lessons weren't
ones like how to clean a rifle, or march in cadence.
These were lessons of character and were factors in
survival.
In retrospect, one lesson I learned from my military
time was that in order to be free, you had to have
personal discipline about safety, and awareness of
danger. While in the military you carried your rifle
with you at all times because you were on the lookout
for the enemy. In the Christian life, we carry the
Bible on our shoulders, so to speak, for it becomes a
light to our path.
In the almost 40 years since, I learned other lessons
from life's ups and downs. It seems strange but
lessons about freedom usually come from conflicts on
our jobs, or in our families, or our finances. When
the lessons are learned and life resumes balance, we
find that we've grown in ways that may not have been
possible. So we can then say that resolving conflicts
is one aspect of the Freedom Factor. There are
however, times when conflicts are of our own making
for we sometimes choose the wrong thing over which to
fight. In these situations, we find freedom when we
choose to not make issues of small things.
I've just finished reading the book of Galatians and
found the key thought is that Jesus Christ means for
us to live in freedom. We are free to enjoy life as it
comes, but not free when we do things to impress
others. One message in the fifth chapter of Galatians
is that the freedom we enjoy is one that allows and
urges us to seek someone else's good, but not as a
means of personal gain.
When we live in freedom, we usually treat our
neighbors and friends with honest affection, and do
for them as we would do for ourselves. We thus find
new exuberance, patience, and serenity. The more we
look for the good of others, the more our lives are
freer than we thought possible. The Freedom Factor
begins when we love in the same way God loves us, and
the more we love, the more we are free.
- Gary Kallio
Two months after finishing college in December 1966 I
was drafted into the military, and after boot camp
found there were two types of soldiers. One type
fought the system for two years because they couldn't
adjust to military style discipline. The other type,
(which I hoped to be) learned hard lessons from their
time of service to our country. These lessons weren't
ones like how to clean a rifle, or march in cadence.
These were lessons of character and were factors in
survival.
In retrospect, one lesson I learned from my military
time was that in order to be free, you had to have
personal discipline about safety, and awareness of
danger. While in the military you carried your rifle
with you at all times because you were on the lookout
for the enemy. In the Christian life, we carry the
Bible on our shoulders, so to speak, for it becomes a
light to our path.
In the almost 40 years since, I learned other lessons
from life's ups and downs. It seems strange but
lessons about freedom usually come from conflicts on
our jobs, or in our families, or our finances. When
the lessons are learned and life resumes balance, we
find that we've grown in ways that may not have been
possible. So we can then say that resolving conflicts
is one aspect of the Freedom Factor. There are
however, times when conflicts are of our own making
for we sometimes choose the wrong thing over which to
fight. In these situations, we find freedom when we
choose to not make issues of small things.
I've just finished reading the book of Galatians and
found the key thought is that Jesus Christ means for
us to live in freedom. We are free to enjoy life as it
comes, but not free when we do things to impress
others. One message in the fifth chapter of Galatians
is that the freedom we enjoy is one that allows and
urges us to seek someone else's good, but not as a
means of personal gain.
When we live in freedom, we usually treat our
neighbors and friends with honest affection, and do
for them as we would do for ourselves. We thus find
new exuberance, patience, and serenity. The more we
look for the good of others, the more our lives are
freer than we thought possible. The Freedom Factor
begins when we love in the same way God loves us, and
the more we love, the more we are free.
- Gary Kallio