MIDWEEK MESSAGE – July 6, 2022

I hope you all had a great 4th of July holiday! For me, the holiday is not just about our freedom in this country but, even more importantly, the innate freedom we have from birth.

True freedom is not dependent on physical space, as people like Nelson Mandela and Viktor Frankl prove. Viktor was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He did not allow himself to believe that the Nazis could make him give up his true self. He realized that even dictators could not control his thoughts and attitudes unless he allowed them to do so. He had the choice of making his experience whatever he desired.

At times it brought him great pain. Freedom of any kind does not come without challenges and discomfort. I believe most people understand that at some level, and therefore, to try and live without pain, we choose to give up being all we are created to be. We are like a caterpillar that decides becoming a butterfly is too painful and stays locked in his cocoon until he dies, never experiencing the wonder of what he truly is.

For many people, letting go of old thinking keeps them locked up in a cocoon prison of negativity and victimhood. To be free, we must take responsibility for our thoughts and attitudes. We must stop playing the victim and realize we are volunteers in this life, and as such, we determine what we do with what we receive in life. We have the freedom to choose is the key to true freedom.

Quote of the Week

“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”
Viktor Frankl

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