John Albert Thomas Solo Piano

Definition of Liberty

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac H. Tiffany (1819)

Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

A Bit About Aging

I hope you moms had a special Mother’s Day!  I know you moms deserve more than a day, but I hope this past Sunday was extra special.

Our church has begun to schedule a monthly visit to a nearby nursing home in Gallaway, just down the road a bit.  (I’ve lived in the South long enough to know what “a bit” is, but for the life of me I can’t find it in the table of weights and measures!)  Since Sunday was Mother’s Day, several families went to visit the elderly ladies at the nursing home after the morning service.  Many of us were a bit (another fine use of the word!) nervous venturing out into the unknown.  We had to deny our relentless desire for comfort.

Our children had worked hard on previous Sunday evenings creating Mother’s Day crafts to give as gifts.  Our nervousness ebbed away as we saw the beautiful and sometimes toothless smiles of the elderly ladies as they reached out to receive their colorful rewards.  Kim Horne and I helped lead the singing of some old hymns, and Mike Hopkins preached an appropriate sermonette.  Many of them seemed to appreciate it.  I even had the privilege of walking an elderly woman back to her room as she was expecting a Mother’s Day visit from one of her children.

I must also confess something deeper was going on in the chambers of my mind and my heart.  When I saw the reality of aging it was like looking at the mirror and realizing, “I may be here someday.”  What will be important to me then when I am no longer independent?  What’s left?  How could I live in such a physical/mental condition?  Perhaps that is why many young people including myself don’t cross the threshold of institutions like this.  We live our youth on cloud nine, but a place like this grabs us by the ankles and yanks us down to reality. 

I had to think about this for a while and here’s what I make of it so far. 

God in His mercy gave us a gift that requires no independence whatsoever—the ability to give and receive love.  In fact, He provided a way of salvation that is accessible by the most dependent person;  100% dependence on Jesus Christ.  We must trust in Him as much as those elderly ladies trust in their wheelchairs and their caregivers.  Jesus said that we must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Perhaps it is His mercy that we slowly return to that posture of dependence that comes naturally to a child.  Perhaps aging is God’s gift to a life-hardened heart, to till the soil and break up the clay, and help us realize that independence is a temporary privilege.  How then shall we live while we have it?  May we live in daily dependence on Him.