Origins of our July 4th celebration:
"By the middle of the 1700s, the 13 colonies that made up part of England's empire in the New World were finding it difficult to be ruled by a king 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. They were tired of the taxes imposed upon them.
This First Continental Congress met in September of 1774. They drew up a list of grievances against the crown which became the first draft of a document that would formally separate the colonies from England. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress presented & debated a second draft of the list of grievances, and John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress, was the first to sign. The document, called the Declaration of Independence, was treasonous against the crown and the fifty-six men who signed it were in danger of being executed.
Independence Day is celebrated on July 4 because that is the day when the Continental Congress adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. From July 8, 1776, until the next month, the document was read publicly and people celebrated whenever they heard it." (Beverly Hernandez)

On this day of independence I would like to talk a little about a different greater kind of independence. Our scripture today comes from Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." and Romans 13:8-14 "Owe no one any thing except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

Just like in the 1700's when America was ruled by a king and at his mercy, today we are ruled again and enslaved or a servant, but this time by our own appetites for more and more wants that go beyond our actual needs. We even call these 'wants' needs because we have become accustomed to having these things that we can't imagine our lives without them, but in the end they really don't make us happy. We are living in a day that addressing this has becoming more important than ever.

Many of us are in a financial hole and see no way out and our lives have become miserable. Since times are hard and money is scarce we need to sit down and actually make our own declaration of independence so we can live a life of freedom from our debts. This will take some careful thinking on our part but the end result will be happiness when we make our lives less stressful by making them lives of simplicity. When our lives become less stressful we can then be free to focus on what is really important in the eyes of God, loving each other. The first step to freedom will be becoming aware of our spending. We can do this by looking at our checkbooks, our credit card invoices and keeping receipts for our cash spending. With paper and pen make a list of everything you purchase. Include rent or mortgage, utilities, food, and all other expenses.

The first step to becoming independent is to put numbers beside those things that are the most important to the least important to sustain life. Next add the total of all these things. If your income is less than the total of these things, you will then need to begin to eliminate those things that are the least important to sustain your physical life until the amount of the list is equal or a little less than your income. I say a little less because there are always unexpected things that will occur like a car repair that you need to plan for. This is how to make a budget to be able to live within your income.

At first it might feel uncomfortable to live with a budget but once you become accustomed to living within your means then you will be able to live a life without the stress of owing large sums without a way to pay the debt. Your thoughts and time can then turn to the more important things of God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. I have a personal story to illustrate this.

I am the one in our family that spends and spends more! :) My husband on the other hand is extremely conservative about spending. Since he is the one who makes the money he has been the one to control the majority of it from day one. I used to balk and fume because we didn't have more 'fun' by spending more. There was a time I was actually consumed by wondering where all the money was since it seemed so little was in the checkbook. It made me angry and distrustful of my husband who never told me where the money was.

Then one day I was invited to go to a retirement workshop at his place of employment. There I learned he had been 'stashing' money away for the time when we would retire and only have half the income we have now. My anger turned to gratitude. That was years before our current economic struggle that is facing our nation today. Today we have our bills paid and do not have to worry about not making our mortgage, we have enough for food and medical expenses. All our needs are met and I have all I want because my 'wants' are not what they used to be. I am more grateful today for what I saw then as him being tight or stingy with the money. We are comfortable and even have a little extra for our wants.

I have taken a lesson from my husband and learned how to save. What I save starts out so small that it doesn't seem to matter but soon the small becomes more, and more even still. By doing this I can pretty much have whatever I want but it does take time and that requires patience. A wonderful thing happened however, when my focus was no longer on material things, I could then focus on what really matters, loving God and others. I do have other stresses in my life primarily related to health, but with my focus so much on God it is possible to survive what some would see as impossible.

People have asked me how do I survive all I have to face, well, the above is the answer. Simply, I don't have the stress many face, (financial) and with this freedom and independence I have the luxury to be able to have my primary focus on what is most important, loving God and others. This primary focus is so wonderful and powerful that it makes it possible for me to survive the impossible. And I don't just survive but thrive in the joy of the Lord.