Russellings of the Spirit

freedom

  • Free As the Breeze?

    Since retiring from the world of work four years ago, I have experienced several foundational… you might even call them seismic… shifts in my life. There has been, naturally, the anticipated change in income. There was, for Joan and I, the… Continue reading

  • Celebrate Freedom! (I guess…)

    Happy (early) birthday, USA!  247? You don’t look a day over 246! Actually, that number of your birthdays (247) is also a great reminder of when we need to be vigilant about protecting our hard-won American political freedoms; 24 hours a day, 7… Continue reading

  • Forward or Backward?

    Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Celebrating this holiday has rarely ever been a question for me. I mean, who wouldn’t jump at the chance for a day off, a backyard BBQ, a frosty cold adult beverage, all topped off by… Continue reading

  • “I want it. I’ll take it.”

    “How is it with your soul?” This is the question John Wesley – founder of Methodism – recommended leaders of small groups go around and ask each member as they began their weekly gatherings.   Today, I will ask it of… Continue reading

  • Happy New Day

    So here we are… sitting in front of this gigantic, mysterious package; trying to figure out where and how to begin opening it… wondering what surprises, delights, horrors, or joys it might contain. The mysterious package I refer to is,… Continue reading

  • Thanks for those scars

    For the most part, I don’t have a lot of scars. (Not that you can see, at least). There’s this one on the front side of my left index finger. That’s from getting it caught on the top of a… Continue reading

  • Lockdown Freedom

    Yesterday kind of sucked. It was day 4,845,154 of the Great Lockdown of 2020 (not that anyone is counting, of course). It was another day of wearing our masks in public, another day of super-fastidious hand washing, another day of… Continue reading

  • To Be Free

    During most years, the topic of freedom is something we trot out once a year… like our Christmas ornaments and tax returns. When the calendar hits early July, we religiously unfurl the red-white-and-blue bunting, light M-80s and Black Cats and… Continue reading

  • A Letter from Inside…

    Dear Mom; Well, it’s been one month now since they locked me up and this is the first time I’ve sat down and written to you. I’m really sorry about that! It’s just that… well, honestly, I can’t come up… Continue reading

  • Give it up

    Here in the U.S., we sing proudly about being citizens of, “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” And yet most of the time we define freedom as “my right to do whatever I damned well… Continue reading