Ed, my neighbour next door, is in his glory. He claims that the happy days of bachelorhood are here again. Ruby, his wife, is on a two-week trip with their daughter and her children. Ed claims he had his first wifeless breakfast this morning. Since Ruby was gone, Ed had a piece of pie that Ruby had left for his supper. He didn't want to wait for coffee to perk, so he drank a cold beer. With his beer, he ate up green grapes left in the fruit dish and melted so much cheese on a bagel that it was made invisible by gooey cheese that was crawling out of the microwave door. Since there was a two-pound box of sweet cherries crying out for attention, he ate them also. Ed says, in this, his time of freedom, he will be eating all the things he likes and only the things he likes.
"Freedom is about plenty of elbow room. Without Ruby in the kitchen, I have ease of movement and independence of action," Ed claims.
"Which is all fine if you clean up after yourself and don't kill yourself with your own cooking," I told Ed.
There is only one slight hitch in Ed's freedom. He has to pick the raspberries while Ruby is gone, and freeze them so Ruby can make jam when she gets back. Ed's plan is to pick them twice. One picking this first week Ruby is gone and the second picking the day before she gets home. I offered the opinion that that might be not quite enough, but Ed claims he is too busy for picking "fool berries" more than once a week.
I guess Ed is so busy because he is so free these days with Ruby absent. I suspect before the two weeks are over Ed will be wishing he had much less freedom and a good meal prepared by Ruby.
Freedom is both a blessing and a curse. Some freedom of choice is a delight. Too much freedom can become a nightmare. The worst thing about freedom is that it means a person has to take responsibility for his or her way of doing things. Ed has only himself to praise or blame for pie, beer, grapes, gooey cheese bagel and sweet cherries for his breakfast.
Freedom is meant to encourage wise choices. We each have a great deal of personal freedom to deal with. There is a proverb that says "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." Our freedom needs to be used wisely. We are free to love God or ignore Him and His word for us. We are free to love our neighbours as ourselves or to hate them. The Bible says it this way: "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil, live as servants of God."
It is as free servants of God that we can seek to be careful how we live. Not as the unwise, but the wise. The Bible calls us to: "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
