We have thought that outside things controlled us, when all the time we have had that within that could have changed everything and given us freedom from bondage. – Ernest Holmes

On Independence Day as we celebrate our country’s freedom from outside rule, I offer my gratitude and praise to the Author of Freedom for all Its good gifts. I acknowledge Divine Source as Wholeness, Goodness, Love, Prosperity, Protection, Defense, and Peace.

As I contemplate this idea of Freedom in the context of Wholeness, I understand that I am and all are the essence of the Good, Whole, Free Life. As we acknowledge the freedom inherently at our core, the Author of Freedom acknowledges us, melting perceptions of opposition and releasing us to choose the ways of mutual happiness. I speak to the Rock Core of Freedom and call It forth that each might pursue and share a more perfect union. I declare an awakening to spiritual vision and a chain reaction of right thought, speech, and action establishing a high, first cause of peace and plenty. I declare that the I AM of Freedom moves inevitably through us to will and to do that which is in alignment with the Common Good. I give thanks, and I praise Spirit in advance for Its accomplishment of this work, generously meeting the need of each individual and uplifting the whole of life. With a glad heart, I plant this word in the field of spiritual law knowing it is done in Divine Good Order. And so it is.

I am free with the freedom of God. But liberty is not license. I am not free to contradict the Divine nature. I am free only in the freedom that God is … to be alive and to enjoy life, to love and to be loved, and to give full and complete expression to every capacity I possess – provided that it harms no one and hurts no thing. — Ernest Holmes

Chris Duvall is a Practitioner at the Rio Grande Center For Spiritual Living, Albuquerque, New Mexico