“My country ’tis of thee. Sweet land of liberty. Of thee, I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims’ pride. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.” You might have heard these words in a song that you have sung back in elementary school, or even heard in one of the speeches from the Rev. (Dr.) Martin Luther King, Jr. What do we mean when we let freedom ring? We let freedom ring when we resound with praise and celebration of no longer being under any kind of wrongful oppression or injustice. However, contrary to popular belief, freedom is not free. Freedom costs. The cost is service.
The apostle Paul, a very sapient follower of Jesus Christ, told the church at Galatia, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). Freedom is not designed to satisfy our personal selfishness; but rather, it is designed for service. “Service” is the gift of labor or work for the benefit of others.
The apostle Peter also writes, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). This gift that I have received that I minister to others is the gift of service.
Why do I serve? When I serve, I get the joy or the delightful expectation of knowing that I helped to benefit another person, regardless of the capacity in which I served. When I serve, I minister the same unmerited favor that God has bestowed upon me to live a life of freedom and abundance without fear, oppression, and heavy burdens. The result is a smile on a grandmother’s face, the satisfaction of a job well done, or an attitude of gratitude out of the mouth of babes.
An example of this took place a little over 20 years ago. I was inside a Wal-Mart® doing some last-minute shopping before being deployed to the Middle East. I just happened to be wearing my desert BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) at the time. While I was shopping, a young boy and his mother approached me. The boy was maybe no older than ten years old. He asked if he could speak to me. I said, “Sure, son. What’s on your mind?” The boy reached out his hand and said, “I just want to thank you for protecting me. Thank you for your [U.S. Army] service.” While doing my best to maintain my military bearing and composure (like I am trying to do right now) as I gazed into the innocence, sincerity and gratitude of this young man’s eyes, I shook his hand and replied, “You are very welcome, son. It is my honor and pleasure to do so.” I gave a silent nod of thanks to his mother and we departed our ways.
Another example of this was when I was finally deployed to the Middle East, and during the deployment, one of the nurses with whom I was serving in our hospital, approached me. He, too, wanted to thank me. I was curious because I did not know what I have done to warrant a “thank you.” After I asked him what the reason was for the gratitude, he informed me that, because of the sapient training in CPR that he received from me, he had become a better nurse.
I did not realize that anything that I have done had made such a great impact on people, like it had done on these two occasions. It was not until I became a steward during the 4th St. Maximillian Kolbe retreat that I realized this. Of all places, believe it or not, I worked in the kitchen, as I helped to prepare the plates for the meals during the retreat. Before I ate anything, I made sure that people were full; that is, full to the point of either falling out of their seats or rushing to the restroom. Needless to say, when the time came, I did get my eat on. For this simple denial of self, this labor for the benefit of others, I received a lot of recognition from the volunteers in color as well as the brothers in white during the retreat.
The point that I am trying to make is that I do not serve to receive recognition or awards or anything of the sort. I serve because I was served. You probably serve because you were served. We serve together because our forefathers served us and because Almighty God has shed His grace on one great nation, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, our 35th President, was quoted, saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you; but rather, ask what you can do for your country.”
My encouragement to each and every one of us is to continue to serve wholeheartedly so as to let freedom ring within our living areas, our job sites, and our areas of recreation. In doing so, service will become so contagious that it will let freedom ring up in the blue spacious skies over the amber waves of grain. Service will let freedom ring over the purple mountain majesties and above the fruited plain.
I close with the words of the apostle Paul: “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). This unspeakable gift is the gift of service. May God continue to bless you and keep you all for what you have done for this great nation. May God bless the Polunsky Unit, the great State of Texas. Most of all, may God bless the United States of America.
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