Today I am thinking about my freedoms. I’m thinking about how I just woke up and I had no fear about putting my feet on my floor and moving freely about my centrally heated home. I had no fear about choosing what I would do next. My mind was filled with my hopes and dreams and goals for the day. I took a drink of purified drinking water and went for a brisk walk in my heartland Ozarks neighborhood, where people were still sleeping safely in comfortable late 70s homes. I sliced a juicy pineapple, which was sitting next to a small watermelon on the counter, and it’s February! I looked around my house at all that needed to be done, made a mental to-do list, then I chose to open my computer to write a few bars of music, because that is what I love to do most. I was free to do what I love to do most. Not only free, but encouraged, by some inner voice that resides in all who believe in the American dream and pursue it. Freely! That is a gift so often taken for granted because it’s like the air we breathe. American dream air! It’s ours for the breathing. And that is amazing. Today, for some reason, I feel especially grateful for that air and I’m thinking of the men and women who cleared it and claimed it for me - very special people who have been willing to leave their comfortable lives while I have lived mine – people from the past who have served and sacrificed, and those who presently do, each and every day all over the world, so I can breathe American dream air. If you are one of those men and women and you happen to be reading this, I want you to know that today, with each American dream breath I take, I’m thinking of you and I’m praising God for the gift you are in my life.
I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you…
