It stopped raining yesterday afternoon and, when it did, the humidity was pushed out by a cool front that brought fresh, delicious breeze and mild temps.

I had been working on my project for a baby boy’s nursery. A friend of my daughter’s had seen the paper maché deer head that I’d made for Brody’s room (you can see it in the picture, so you’ll know what in the world I’m talking about!), and asked if I could make her one. I had finished with the head and wall plaque, but he was still in need of some antlers, which are PLENTIFUL on our property.

If you will recall, I have been in a boot for a stress fracture for the past 7-8 weeks, which I just got to remove this last week. It has precluded me from walking to some of my favorite spots on the ranch, and I’ve become so accustomed to it, that when I went outside to hunt out the perfect little twigs, I subconsciously confined myself to the immediate yard.

I stood there after about 15 minutes, empty-handed and wondering what I was going to do, when I remembered that I could go anywhere! Out the gate I went to the lower pasture, inspecting fallen branches as I went.

It was beautiful down there. Mild and breezy, with soft, filtered sunlight falling through the trees. One horse, sweet old Miss Kitty, calmly grazed and looked at me with big, wise eyes. I looked for antlers for that little deer for almost an hour. I had four good contenders in my hand, but felt compelled to keep looking, as I visited my tree, and sat quietly in its secreted sanctuary. Then I walked out to check on the point, where the remaining clouds whispered promises of a dazzling show come sundown.

I finally came back to the house. I’d so looked forward to my day inside it, and had enjoyed every moment. But I’d forgotten about what I’d been missing these last weeks. I’d forgotten about the small freedoms from which I’d been arrested and how these seemingly little things are not so little when they are held back from you.

Really, no freedoms are small. Even the ones we forget about, sometimes, because we’ve come to take them for granted. Believe me, if they were suddenly taken away, you’d miss them and realize how big and important they were to the fullness of your life, and your ability to live it out the way you were intended.

I’m forever grateful for any freedom I have because all of them – ALL – have come at great cost…the blood of a soldier…the blood of a Savior. Forgetting we have them is tantamount to obliterating them altogether. If we do, we’ll end up confining ourselves to the yard, until the whole of the property we could be freely walking is no longer ours to enjoy.

It’s the little things, yes. As long as we remember that they’re really not little at all.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 MSG

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 ESV