Freedom from, Freedom to... or Both?

Recently I came across a couple of new accounts on Instagram that piqued my interest. One was from a woman here in the States who downsized her family's home from a five bedroom, four bath to a two bedroom, one bath. The other, a woman in the UK, moved with her family from a new build in the city to a several hundred years old cottage in the country with acreage.

To read their back stories was a glimpse into the mindset of what it looks like to feel the need for change. They were both seeking freedom that took them to two very distinct and disperate destinations from one another. One wanted freedom from over-consumption and the stress of maintaining her family's current lifestyle. The other was seeking the freedom to pursue a slower life pace for her young children.

One would value the new place as a respite from remodeling and redecorating. The other would see the new "old" place as an opportunity to remake it into their own.

Freedom from, freedom to, or is it some of both?

I actually have two close friends who have both recently moved from homes they've lived in for a decade or more. One is looking at the move as an opportunity for a new creative outlet, where she can put her signature stamp on the builder-grade finishes. My other friend is looking to downsize everything in order for simplification and not having to maintain anything from appliances to landscaping.

All this made me take stock of my own situation. Am I currently at this place in life seeking freedom from something, or am I seeking the freedom to move toward something else, or is it a little bit of both?

You might be thinking to yourself, "Why do you have to be seeking anything? Can't you just be content where you are?"

Absolutely! However, life is never stagnant, is it? We are all always moving, morphing, changing roles and responsibilities with the years as they pass. I suppose the real question is, are we morphing and changing with them?

I stood at my kitchen window looking out at my backyard, the large hedges that rim the property enfolding it like a protective hug. The hatchling birds flocking to the bird feeder and water bowls perched on the deck railing. I breathed a sigh of deep content. This is the place where I belong for now. I say "for now" because I just don't know what God has in store for me in the years to come. I have been many times in the place of moving toward the freedom "from," and I have been many times in the place of moving toward the freedom "to" something else. We all have. It's just part of life.

It isn't necessarily walking away from what used to be, but rather a simple turning of the page, the next chapter in a continuing story unfolding as life progresses. Forward motion doesn't mean we are leaving behind the old chapters, relegating them to the dust bin. No, they are all integral to the whole. We are very simply moving toward the next most meaningful pursuit.

These chapters, this book being written of our life, can't be written all at once. Each chapter carries its own significance, its own purpose: the newly married years, the career years, the child rearing years, the caring for parents years, the kids in college years, the empty nest years, etc. We remain in the same chapter until the good Lord and the story He is writing necessitates moving forward.

Freedom "from" and freedom "to" don't exist in isolation. They are co-contributors, each providing nuance and depth to the plot line. How terribly boring and redundant it would be to read the same page over and over, the same chapter again and again. Like I mentioned before, life isn't stagnant, and what a blessing it isn't!

God has built into each of our lives a forward motion that propels us to embrace new things, to learn new things, to handle new challenges, to cope with new disappointments, to gain new perspective, all so He can reveal to us in the end this wonder of a life He prepared for us from the very beginning.

I wonder if in heaven there are rows upon rows of bookshelves with volumes galore, each with the name of a different person, our name among them, recording the days... the moments of our entire lives, highlighted with all the challenges He brought us through, all the prayers He answered, all the interventions He made for us of which we remained clueless. What a read that would be, wouldn't it?!

So we continue moving onward and upward, ever closer to the image God has in mind for our lives, the "story" He couldn't wait to write, the story He wants others to see.

It isn't freedom "from" or freedom "to." It's just freedom...

to become all that God created us to be, and to enjoy each chapter as it comes... to the fullest.