Freedom is like a Flower

Do you love Independence Day? I do. As a child I remember it being my favorite holiday. I felt that the 4th of July was the fun little sister of  stuffy Thanksgiving. You can wear flip flops and shorts on the 4th of July but a stiff dress on Thanksgiving that you had to be careful with not to get gravy on the front.

A very special day, not the 4th but equally special. My brother is next to me hiding behind the flag, and a little neighbor in the back. We were all welcoming our dads home from war...we waited for hours in pouring rain for their plane to land. We thought they might never come home.

Today's dessert

On the 4th of July, we would usually wear something American that to my mom could mean an embroidered Native American or Mexican shirt or dress which made me feel even more authentically American, we would eat a potluck picnic banquet with friends and I would try new foods that my parents didn't make at home like delicious creamy macaroni salad and dirt pie (made with oreo's and gummy worms).

Grandma ready for 4th of July festivities

One lunch down and a potluck to follow

 It was one of the few days in the year my parents let us drink soda, so we naturally overindulged. We were invited to so may BBQ's and picnics on that day because my parents were very social and usually ended up eating a dry hamburger at each one, getting hyperactive on too much sugar and ending the day at at carnival. I remember my brother and I going on the ferris wheel and feeling that death was upon us as it would stop at the top to let more people on. I hated the ferris wheel but felt it my patriotic duty to get on it on the 4th of July. I remember hearing so many patriotic songs and singing them with all of my heart as I mixed up the words to each one, not sure what they meant. I couldn't imagine there being a purple mountain and amber waves of grain but sang anyway. I imagined someone important in history like George Washington accidentally colored a mountain purple in school with a purple crayon and because he was famous it ended up in the song and no one contested it...

This 4th of July is a little different, to say the least. I can't imagine as a child seeing my friends in facemasks, or imagine my parents explaining to me that this year we couldn't go to BBQ's because of a virus that wasn't safe. I'm sure if my dad had to explain it he would have drawn a diagram of the virus for us..."Safe" was a word we used very little in the 80's and was usually reserved to stranger danger. 

Freedom is like a flower. It needs the right soil, the right environment, weeds kept away, and internally it is wired by a genetic DNA composition that is so complex only a loving Creator could make it. Flowers say so much. 

In human terms the right soil for my freedom to flower, is constancy in faith. It is sometimes challenging to keep persevering when you don't feel like praying, but know how good it is for your spiritual roots to stay connected to the goodness of God and talking with your mother, Mary. Mary likes flowers, by the way. Roses are her favorite.

The right environment. Plants don't like pollution, most plants don't. Being overstimulated by negativity both externally from my body (news, TV, scrolling) or negativity internally (critical heart, unforgiveness, resentment) can all put some pollution on my freedom to be open and free to love as Christ loved. Cultivating the right environment also takes time, quiet reflection and effort to refuse the wrong internal and external climate. 

Persevere, keep going even when you don't feel like it.

Weeds kept away. Hey, weeds grow constantly in my plants. I connect weeds to sin. We all sin. I sin, the Pope sins, Queen Elizabeth sins, Mother Theresa sinned, Winston Churchill, and Pocahontas even sinned. 

Me as Pocahontas for History Day in 2nd grade. I was proud of representing her so threw in a curtsy.

We are all got it: original sin (thanks, Adam and Eve). Acknowledging our past failures and regularly asking God for His mercy in confession so we can start fresh is akin to pulling out the weeds. What's a sin? Anything against the 10 Commandments that goes against the good life God wants us to lead in this life.

Like a flower, we can only grow so much and be truly free to be beautiful and open as we were lovingly created to be without divine help. Asking for the freedom to have faith, hope and love is true freedom as striving to grow in the virtues will enable us to affront each day with more internal freedom from attachment to things that bind us. 

On that note, I would love to end with the Litany of Trust. We need to be vulnerable enough to trust in order to seek true freedom from whatever we feel bound to.

Litany of Trust

From the belief that I have to earn Your love … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear that I am unlovable … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the false security that I have what it takes … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear that trusting You will leave me more destitute … Deliver me, Jesus.

From all suspicion of Your words and promises … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the rebellion against childlike dependency on You … Deliver me, Jesus.

From refusals and reluctances in accepting Your will … Deliver me, Jesus.

From anxiety about the future … Deliver me, Jesus.

From resentment or excessive preoccupation with the past … Deliver me, Jesus.

From restless self-seeking in the present moment … Deliver me, Jesus.

From disbelief in Your love and presence … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being asked to give more than I have … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the belief that my life has no meaning or worth … Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of what love demands … Deliver me, Jesus.

From discouragement … Deliver me, Jesus.

That You are continually holding me, sustaining me, loving me … Jesus, I trust in you.

That Your love goes deeper than my sins and failings, and transforms me …Jesus, I trust in you.

That not knowing what tomorrow brings is an invitation to lean on You … Jesus, I trust in you.

That You are with me in my suffering … Jesus, I trust in you.

That my suffering, united to Your own, will bear fruit in this life and the next …Jesus, I trust in you.

That You will not leave me orphan, that You are present in Your Church…Jesus, I trust in you.

That Your plan is better than anything else … Jesus, I trust in you.

That You always hear me, and in Your goodness always respond to me …Jesus, I trust in you.

That You give me the grace to accept forgiveness and to forgive others …Jesus, I trust in you.

That You give me all the strength I need for what is asked …Jesus, I trust in you.

That my life is a gift … Jesus, I trust in you.

That You will teach me to trust You … Jesus, I trust in you.

That You are my Lord and my God … Jesus, I trust in you.

That I am Your beloved one … Jesus, I trust in you.

Amen.