Christ has set us free for freedom. Therefore, stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again.

Galatians 5:1

One of our travel traditions, if we get to stay in one place more than a few days, is to buy a really cool puzzle, tip it out onto a table, and try to assemble the picture as a group project.

Typically, progress is slow at the beginning and then everything comes together in a mad rush late the last night.

In Michigan, however, even though we rented the lake-house for a week, we didn’t even come close despite a huge effort the night before we left.

So we packed up all 1,000 pieces and carried the puzzle back to North Carolina, trying in vain to keep some of the sections still assembled. Then, yesterday, Rebekah and I decided to put the puzzle together so we can send everyone a picture. We sure do hope none of the pieces escaped back in Michigan.

The project may be a little ambitious, but the theme – “250 Years of America” – is super-cool and we have high hopes.

One thing is for sure, no matter how you look at it, America really is a puzzle. But so long as we keep referencing back to the keystone, the guide, the original design – the intended spectacular picture is eventually going to come together.

Interestingly, a puzzle cannot hold its shape any way other than via the participation of every single piece. All the various parts need each other, or the whole thing becomes unstable. The same principle – or the same laws – apply equally across the board, no exceptions. This is why John Adams, wary of a nation dominated by one leader, or personality, declared that “we are a nation of laws, not men.”

WE THE PEOPLE:

The key phrase on this puzzle, foundational to everything else, is “WE THE PEOPLE.” And I would like to think that we, all of us, THE PEOPLE, will follow the words the Apostle Paul employed when he urged his readers to hold onto their freedom with both hands and their hearts too: “Stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again.”

Stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again!

We have already been given our freedom, Paul points out, so a return to slavery would – first – require our consent.

Sounds crazy I know. But it happens all the time. We give up something important – like freedom, or integrity, or trust – in exchange for something temporary and false – like power, or retribution, or control or the illusion of wealth.

But then we find out – like every scam in the book – we have nothing; neither what we gave up nor what we traded our soul to acquire.

The puzzle won’t hold together unless every piece is willing to honor the design and – in humility – hold hands with its neighbor.

To hold hands with our neighbor, and to do it in an attitude of humble respect. And, critically important for the healing part, to hold our neighbor in trust.

– DEREK