Deliverance

Help! Mom! Help! I’m stuck!

…The plea of my 5 year old after sticking her head and arms into the drawstring bag which holds our marble works set.

I came running to her aid, but couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw what she had gotten herself into. So, before releasing her from the bag, I asked if I could take her picture. Permission granted, I grabbed a camera, took this picture, and freed the prisoner.

Our winged visitor

Another short, prison-like experience happened a couple weeks later, when my husband opened the door to take the garbage out and unknowingly frightened a bird into our home. Within milliseconds, my eldest daughter loudly and worriedly announced, “there’s a bird in the house!”

What? I wasn’t sure it was really happening until I saw that bird, frantically trying to find its way out. Immediately regretting its decision, it flew to the window above. When that didn’t work, it found a skylight in one of the bedrooms and tried making that an exit. About 43 slow motion seconds later, the bird found its way back outside through the still open front door. My husband saw it fly away when he returned from taking the garbage to the curb. Its entrapment was brief, but the experience, memorable. Unfortunately, that jailbird made its escape so fast I didn’t get a chance to even think about taking a picture to document its visit!

I’ll try to make up for that in the next section…

Entrapment and Liberty

Reflecting on these and other like occurrences, has caused my mind to consider the traps that lead to bondage, our internal drive to be free and the blessings associated with liberty.

Some traps are laid for us (my girls and I love to catch Daddy off guard) and some traps are of our own making (the little one pictured with the cones doesn’t necessarily see that she is in the middle of that oval she so expertly made); other traps seem to have little or nothing to do with where we are or what we are doing.

Take the COVID-19 global pandemic of this year. The subsequent quarantine felt like a sort of prison sentence to many.

Sin = Slavery = Sad

Thought a little alliterative mathematical equation might be fun to throw in. Sin is a type of bondage we create. Jesus Christ taught, “whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” We are bound by our choices whether good or evil because, though we CAN choose our actions, we CANNOT choose the consequences attached. Clergyman Harry Emerson Fosdick included in a sermon the following insights, “He who picks up one end of the stick, picks up the other. He who chooses the beginning of a road, chooses the place it leads to” (Living Under Tension, 1941).

Some live as though there will be no judgement. Some have tricked themselves into believing this falsehood and have become enslaved.

There will be a judgement and there will be consequences based on what we have chosen to do while here on Earth.

Seeking Deliverance

In the situation with the bag over my daughter’s head, she called to me because she was feeling trapped. She couldn’t have easily released herself and thus was reaching out to someone she knew would help.

The bird was temporarily disoriented. It’s world was changed in milliseconds from no limits to being confined within walls and ceilings. The bird made its escape very quickly; it chose freedom.

My husband always finds his way out from under the girls tackles… that’s part of the fun. If he just accepted defeat, the game would be over. The girls expect a fight and they relish in it.

And well, baby girl had no problem knocking those cones out of the way when she wanted to go exploring elsewhere.

The image of our eldest trying to communicate with friends over the fence shows the power of the human spirit to rise above obstacles.

How we react to our circumstances is up to us. We only have control over two things in life: our choices and how we react to the choices of others. If we are feeling trapped we can give up, give in or we can seek deliverance.

What compels us to be free?

Why do we always look for an escape when we feel trapped? I believe it’s in our natures. We all yearn to be free. We all dislike feeling like our choices are limited (even if sometimes indecisive, in general, people prefer having options).

In the preexistence (our life before this) we fought for the right of choice. We decided that allowing ourselves the freedom to choose (even if it meant risking mistakes and failure), was the best way to learn and become.

I believe we knew then, and we have to relearn here, that life is not about getting perfect grades, never tripping, always winning. It’s about learning from our shortfalls, getting back up, and overcoming our natural tendencies so we can be better than we now are.

Everyday we make mistakes. Everyday we “fall short of the glory of God,” but if we remember that the Savior sacrificed his life so we might be cleansed through His infinite atonement, then we are relieved a great burden. We can change. We are freed from the bondage that comes from sin through sincere repentance.

Whatever the trap may be, if we seek Him, our Savior can make us free.