Sunday, July 4, 2010

FREE...

HAPPY 4th, everyone...  FREEDOM.   Independence.  What does that mean to you?  

Before I get into a not-so-traditional 4th of July post, I do want to take this time to THANK all of the wonderful military families out there who are keeping us safe and FREE.  Your sacrifices and those of your family are truly humbling to me...and a BIG shout out to my cousin Matt and his family!  Matt returned from Iraq a few months ago and we are all so grateful for HIS safety and freedom as well!

While we are celebrating our FREEDOM.... well, here goes:

...Just a little something I wrote this morning over coffee that I decided to BE BRAVE and share...

"Free as a Butterfly"  

I am free.


Free to choose, free to decide.


Free to laugh, free to cry.


Free from judgement, and if there are those who wish to try to judge me, I am


Free to choose NOT to let them into my life.


Free to fly as gracefully as a BUTTERFLY and free to SHINE as brightly as I can...


Free to SHARE my successes, failures, and life's lessons with those that might benefit from hearing about them.


Free to continue what I've started no matter how many times I start from scratch...


I am free to dream as big as I want


Free to learn, and free to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...


I am free to create, free to VOICE my opinion, free to CHANGE MY MIND.


Free to give as much as I can and free to decide when it's enough and when I need to give more...


Free to agree, free to disagree.


Free to WORK for my hard-earned money and free to wear pajamas to a JOB that I LOVE.


Free to vote, free to pray to a God I want to worship and free from the sin that he paid for me.


Free to be brave, free to wear my heart on my sleeve and when I get hurt,


Free to pray for those who might not be and free to say "I'm sorry, it just didn't work out"...



Free to start over.   I am free to choose the people in my life who I WISH to be in it...free to keep remembering that it's not ONLY about "two choices-this or that".  Life is FULL of MUCH MORE than only two, narrow-minded choices.  

Free from the restrained way of thinking that you're "in or out"..."all or nothing".  Not for me... I am FREE to CELEBRATE that there are so many different ways of thinking...so many fresh perspectives.

Free to embrace the above everyday.  It is truly SO freeing.



Free to re-consider.  Free to choose the way I want to live my life and live out the relationships in them.


Free to be who I am and have a husband who supports ALL of that and doesn't tell me "no, you can't" or "no, I don't want you to".    (I love you, honey)


Free to decide what is best for me because I KNOW what's best for me and even more importantly, what's best for the four most important human beings in my life....my children.


Free to raise my children to the VERY BEST of my ability and give THEM the freedom to decide WHO they want to BE.


I am free to smile and make the CONSCIOUS CHOICE of HAPPINESS....the conscious choice to have as many things to smile about 


EACH DAY as I possibly can...


...and most of all,  I'm just FREE to be ME.      ~j.d.


Hope you enjoyed it-and hope that you are FLYING FREE as well!  You are all beautiful butterflies!  Happy 4th, everyone!

Letting Freedom ring,
xoxo ~Jess :)

9 comments:

Julie Campbell said...

Beautiful, Jess! :) And so, so true!

Pamela Lengyel said...

SO TALENTED JESS. It was just beautiful! Happy 4th.

Angie said...

Wonderful Jess, and thank you too. You make me smile every time I come over here to visit!

Trish a.k.a stampi said...

Thanks for sharing and for the reminder...

Peggy said...

So glad you were brave and shared this with us. Very well said!
Hugs!

Bumbles and Fairy-Tales said...

Thank you, brave girl, for sharing this with us! It's beautiful :)

I hope you're enjoying your 4th with your precious family!
hugs, margie

Amber Hight said...

Lovely poem Jess, you have a beautiful way with words:) Hope you and your sweet family had a happy 4th!

Savannah O'Gwynn said...

Didn't know you liked to write! WONDERFUL! Great poem:) TFS!!!

Lynne Phelps said...

Being free sounds just right for a whimsical butterfly. Loved reading all your thoughts on Freedom, especially at a time when Washington is trying to take a lot of it away. We need to defend our freedoms; they come at a cost, they are not free.