Our father, God, has also given us the invaluable gift of freedom. By the manner in which we are naturally made up, we are free; and by natural law, coming from God, no one should be able to take that freedom away from us.

It should come as no surprise that we all yearn for freedom. Especially when we are repressed, and our freedom is being violated, that yearning becomes even more intense, and we are prepared to put up with anything in order to regain and re-enjoy our freedom.

As we get on with our life's journey, much of what we do is to expand our options through the exercise of our very fundamental right to be free: free to choose between those options; and free to decide and act on the basis of the options we have chosen. Indeed, the pursuit of our personal mission should be marked by the use of the freedom with which we have been gifted.

We are free to be lazy or diligent in the use of our freedom, and in the tapping of the opportunities that are open to us - precisely opportunities broadened and widened by the life-long use of our reason. We can choose to let life pass idly by, with little effort on our part as well as with plenty of distractions and passing fancies. Or we can choose to focus all our attention and direct all our energies towards achieving our life's end, as articulated in our personal mission.

We are free to expand our options precisely by lifelong study and by the continuous use of our reason. The more we study and the more ably we equip ourselves with knowledge, skills, expertise, and proper attitudes, the more options open up to us at work and in service of others. The higher up we go, in part because of our training and diligent use of our time and of the opportunities within our reach, the more critical our work can be for the greater welfare of a greater number of people.

We are then free to choose among the many more options that become available to us, and among the many strategic initiatives we can pursue within those options we have chosen. Our personal mission statement guides us in making these critical choices: we pick those options that can more easily and speedily transform us; and we pick those initiatives that enable us to make the most progress, efficiently and effectively, towards putting flesh and substance to the options we have chosen.

Freedom to commit to use the talents and opportunities given to each of us; freedom to broaden and widen the options and opportunities to show our love for God in the work we do and in the service we render to others; and freedom to pick specific initiatives in exploiting those options: freedom, and more freedom, indeed, freedom everywhere!

The use of our freedom, however, is in service of our achieving our central aim in life, which is to be able to fulfil our personal mission. The exercise of our freedom is directed towards ensuring that at life's end we shall have transformed ourselves in line with what we articulated in our personal mission statement.

This is still another reminder that having a clear personal mission to which we commit our life of work and service to others provides a direction to all the decisions and actions we choose to take. Moreover, we are also reminded that freedom is ours to use: it has to be directed towards the accomplishment of our life's mission.

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Freedom, Responsibility (1)