InDependence

Hey, Y'all,

Happy Sabbath, and happy 233rd birthday, America. I'll admit it: I'm a patriot. I love this country, utterly...although admittedly these days it's more the ideal of this country that I love. So I thought that for starters I'd share one of my favorite quotes with y'all (if I remember right I owe this one to Linden--thanks man!). Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers, said:

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

Righteous...

OK, so on a completely different tack...Had a not-entirely-random thought most ironical this morning (wait, what am I, Yoda?!?). Anyway, it occurred to me--today being Independence Day and all--that we as a nation have always valued (or at least paid a great deal of lip service to) independence: "Do it yourself." "He pulled himself up by his bootstraps." "I did it my way." Sounds good; noble; right.

Thus couldn't help but feel anew the tension inherent in trying to reconcile that mentality (or, more correctly, that work ethic) with the completely contrasting idea put forth by Christ: that dependence on God is the only path to rest, and peace, and significance.

You can race around frantically trying to achieve, to fix it (whatever "it" is), to do all the stuff you have to do. To take care of it yourself. To do it yourself. Unfortunately, it's an utter fallacy. The only thing you achieve is complete bone weariness and worn-out frustration.

Here are the verses that kept bookending my ruminations:

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
John 15:5

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Philippians 4:12,13

May we come to see that striving for so-called independence from God is a sure way to run yourself ragged and find yourself wholly thwarted; that only in dependence can true meaning and real peace be found.

You've been prayed for today...

J