Freedom: A Wonderful and Terrible Thing

At our National Day of Prayer service yesterday, I said that one of the greatest things about living in the United States of America is that we are free. I went on to say that our freedom is a wonderful and a terrible thing. I offered lists of reasons for using each of those adjectives in describing our freedom. Here are the lists.

Freedom is wonderful because:

We can find our way and fulfill our role.
We can go where we want and live where we want.
We can pursue our dreams.
We can vote.
We can express our opinion.
We can assemble to discuss, to protest, or to affirm.
We can worship in whatever way we want or not worship at all.
We can take advantage of our opportunities to the best of our ability and to the extent of our resolve.

Freedom is terrible because:

We must have the desire to preserve it.
We must exercise it responsibly.
We must take it seriously or we will lose it.
We must exercise it or it will get lazy and flabby.
We must want others to have it as badly as we want to have it for ourselves.
We must acknowledge the high price that was paid to win it and the high price that is paid to preserve it.