Freedom of Thought by Karen Thompson

The theme for this Blog Tour is “Freedom Rocks.” Those of us writing were told to write about some kind of Freedom.  To be asked to participate was quite an honor and I wanted to say something profound.  I tried looking up quotations by great philosophers about freedom and found that what I got was information that was confusing and way over my head. I tried several other approaches including re-reading the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and must confess that the more I thought about freedom and the implications of our freedom, the more in a funk I got. I looked around at our current North American culture and found that more and more of our freedoms are being restricted or lost altogether.

Then, it occurred to me that I was in desperate need of an “attitude adjustment.” I needed to look at what freedoms I do have and then resolve to use those freedoms to the utmost! For example, I am free to change my attitude.  I can be in control of it. Now, when the world seems to be closing in on me and there is no good news in the media, how can I possibly change my attitude?  

The answer is in Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:8-9 (NLT)

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

This tells me that in order to change my attitude I must not dwell on problems or on the evil in this world. That does not mean that I am to be unaware of the many problems surrounding us. I need to be informed on world and local events. However, I must also look for  the good in the world and try to continually focus my thoughts there.  As an example, throughout the day, my thoughts return to the precious sound of our two young granddaughters wishing us a Merry Christmas in song over the telephone or a beautiful full rainbow that glimmered through the residual raindrops.

 Furthermore, the verses from Philippians tell me that when I see a place where my gifts and talents can be used to improve life for someone, I need to get busy and do what is needed. It doesn’t have to be anything worthy of front page headlines, but can be as simple as letting someone with only a few items get in line ahead of me and my monthly grocery shopping cart at the checkout. It can be as simple as befriending a forgotten soul in a skilled nursing facility and visiting regularly. The possibilities are endless.

In obeying God’s Word, I’ve proven it true. My attitude changed and the funk is gone. My new found freedom has improved my life. It can’t be taken away unless I allow it. Freedom does rock!

Today's guest blogger is Karen Thompson.  Karen is a wife, mother of 5, grandmother of 8.  She is a retired anesthesiologist and her husband is a retired pastor.  To learn more about her, visit her blog at:

http://kat.christianblogsites.com/blog/