It continues to amaze me how fast our little girls are growing and grasping for their independence.  Freedom is something they long for—as I did when I was growing up.

They youngest of the bunch is already almost six months old and in those months that have flown by so rapidly, Raegan has changed unbelievably.  She has grown from helplessness at birth to great alertness and the ability to express herself.  Understandably she still depends strongly on her parents, but she now likes to be in the midst of whatever is going on.  Her pleasant and contagious personality shines through with those big grins that she so often displays.  All of her growing actions remind me that she is gaining greater and greater freedom as an individual.

The next in line, Addy, who is coming up on eight years old, is interesting to watch and listen to in her excitement and love for life; you never know what she will come up with next.  Her mother shared a discussion that she recently had with Addy about fairy tale figures—specifically on that occasion, the tooth fairy.  With her baby teeth starting to be shed, the anticipation of a little extra change each time she loses a tooth is something to look forward to.  However, she informed her mother the other day that the tooth fairy is not real.  After some discussion and inquiry, she explained to Jessica how she knew that:  “When I looked in your underwear drawer I saw my teeth!”  It’s hard to pull anything over on them when they reach that age!  Addy is grabbing for her freedom and is expressing it in a variety of ways.

As we celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection of Christ, among the things that are important to keep in our hearts and on our minds is that He came to set us free from the captivity of sin.  Long before Christ was born in Bethlehem, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold a key aspect of Christ’s purpose for coming to earth:  “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”  (Isaiah 61:1, New International Version).  As we fast forward several hundred years to the time of Christ, we find Him reading Isaiah’s words to His audience, and with their eyes fastened on Him, He declared, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Being set free is a wonderful gift to experience.  It becomes even more precious when the freedom is not earned, but purchased by another.  Christ paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross and He rose from the dead in victory to make the gift of eternal life available to all who will believe on Him and accept by faith that which He has provided for us.  In John 8 He described the effect of sin in the lives of humankind as spiritual bondage, but He declared the glorious solution that He would provide:  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).  We should all reach out to Him for that spiritual freedom even more than my grandchildren desire to obtain their personal freedom as they grow up.

During this season of Easter celebration, may we all remember to keep the focus on Christ’s sacrifice for us and rejoice that it is because of His resurrection that we have the privilege of surrendering our lives to Him and being released from the imprisonment of sin and its devastating consequences.