Freedom Begins in Your Heart

It is the evening of July 3rd...I am sitting on my deck watching and listening to my girls laugh and chat as they play pickleball on our backyard court. Airplanes are coming and going from the little city airport nearby, cars are revving their engines far away for the Friday night cruise, someone somewhere is lighting off fireworks, and the neighborhood bald eagle is circling and soaring above with its eye on something down below.

It is remarkable to pause and consider the gift of living in a nation that has enjoyed so much freedom for so long. Like every family and every human heart, our country carries both beauty and brokenness. Yet today, as I sit here in the evening sun, I find myself choosing gratitude.

Gratitude for those who came before us and the countless sacrifices that secured freedoms we often take for granted.

Gratitude for the opportunity to go to Holy Mass and worship openly, to raise our families, to pursue meaningful work, and to live lives of purpose.

As I think about our nation's 250th birthday, my thoughts drift back to some of the happiest Fourth of July celebrations of my childhood.

We would load up in the station wagon and drive the 2 hours from our home in Nebraska to my grandparents' home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Those memories are stitched together with the distinct smell of the Cheyenne air and grandpa's charcoal grill on a warm summer evening.

I can still feel my hair pulled tight into two high ponytails decorated with red, white and blue ribbons. The memories of the laughter (and arguing) of siblings and cousins running through the yard with Corky, the dog, and my grandpa standing at the grill, faithfully turning hamburgers and hot dogs are forever etched in my heart.

As dusk settled in, us kids could hardly contain our excitement. One by one, we took turns lighting smoke bombs and fireworks in the alley driveway behind my grandparents' house. Sparklers danced in the night sky, snap pops cracked beneath our sneakers, and for a few magical hours the whole world seemed filled with light and laughter. I'm sure there were attitudes and meltdowns, but the good memories definitely blur the not-so-good.

And if Gram Neldie gave us permission, we would race downstairs to the basement bar refrigerator to grab an ice-cold pop. Sometimes, if we were especially fortunate, we would open the upright freezer and find chocolate-covered ice cream bars waiting inside amongst her homemade frozen jams, fruits and corn.

Looking back, I realize those were not extravagant celebrations. They were moments of belonging, of feeling safe and loved.

As children, we did not stop to think about liberty or sacrifice. We simply lived in the gift of them. Perhaps that is what freedom was always meant to protect. Not merely our independence, but our ability to cultivate homes where faith is lived, families are nurtured, neighbors are loved, and children grow surrounded by goodness.

My Grandpa Bob with our three oldest kids in his backyard in Cheyenne, July 2001.

The older I become, the more convinced I am that the renewal of a nation begins with the renewal of the human mind and heart. I often talk about living an integrated life...becoming whole so that we can more fully become the person God created us to be. Wholeness and holiness have never been separate journeys. The more we invite Christ to heal what is wounded and hurting within us, the more freedom we experience. Not simply the freedom to do whatever we want, but the freedom to choose what is good, true, and beautiful.

As Christians, we celebrate our nation with grateful hearts while remembering where our deepest allegiance lies. As St. Paul reminds us, "Our citizenship is in heaven." ~Philippians 3:20

We are pilgrims here, called to faithfully steward the place and time in which God has planted us while keeping our eyes fixed on our eternal home. I pray that, by God's grace, each of us will continue the work of building something strong and beautiful...not only a stronger nation, but stronger marriages, families, and communities. When hearts are rooted in Christ, homes flourish. When homes flourish, relationships and communities are renewed. And when communities are renewed, hope reaches far beyond our own borders.

As St. John Paul II so profoundly stated:

"As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live."

Today, I thank God for this imperfect country and the freedoms we enjoy.

I thank Him for grandparents who created a home where childhood felt safe and simple.

I thank Him for sparklers, basement pops, chocolate-covered ice cream bars, and the ordinary moments that quietly taught me what belonging feels like.

But above all, I thank Him because every good gift comes from His hand.

May we celebrate this gift of freedom with grateful hearts, and may we use that freedom to become people who leave every corner of the world a little brighter and better than we found it.

Happy 250th Birthday, America. May God bless us all!