A Breakout
I’ve been watching a breakout, a get-away, a great escape, a disparate run for freedom. Sound thrilling? Well, not so much. This escape has been unfolding over the last several months, maybe even longer—I only just noticed it. You know those pot plants that send out long runners when they grow? They’re some kind of ivy. There are a couple of them in the glass foyer that connects to the children’s building, they’re making a not-so-quick dash for the door. They’ve finally reached their long green, leafy fingers to touch the door from several feet away. They’re so very close—so close they can catch the breeze of freedom every time someone comes inside.
They’ve been cooped up too long behind the glass, and it appears that they want to join the wild flora of the outside world.
Do you ever feel cooped up like that? Do you ever feel that you’re living behind glass, maybe doing pretty well, but not quite free to be who God really and truly intends for you to be. Sure, it happens. We get so used to routines and habits that can drain our energy.
But the love of Christ brings great freedom. When the grace of God is growing holy love in us, life has a way of breaking free from old habits, old ruts. When we are learning to have a heart for service and compassion, when the Spirit of Jesus Christ is becoming our way of life, we are being empowered to escape old, worn-out ways of living, and we are being given the energy to live the wonder of God’s direction for us.
I have a feeling that those plants are not going to get very far. In some plant-like way, they seem to know (can a plant “know”?) that life is better beyond the doors. But you and I…we are given the spiritual desire to know Christ and the freedom of his love. Let’s escape.
May First United Methodist Church be for you a people working together to know the freedom of Christ.
First United Methodist Church