The magic of the Fourth of July came a bit slowly this year due to some family division. The divide began when my husband and the older children started shooting store-bought fire works through our heavily-wooded back yard. Always a bit on the paranoid side, I chose to express my own independence day of sorts and huddle with my one year old in our upstairs bedroom and watch the ridiculous festivities from afar. Despite the children’s pleas for me to join them in the yard, I simply could not–would not–participate in their haphazard attempt at creating something more dangerous than magical in my estimation. It was only hours later when it was time to watch the legal version of the same, that the divide disappeared.
As the entire family sat on our blanket on top of a mountain watching the spectacle of blazes (professionally ignited this time) in front of us, my nerves eased and I joined with my family in spirit again. Together, we watched as the various individual lights shot up strikingly into the dark night air, each light following its own trajectory but still somehow meshing perfectly together to create one united and beautiful formation. And it was indeed magical.
The magic for me, however, stemmed mostly from the reminders the vision offered regarding what true independence should and should not look like. Just like the individual lights, we all have our own lighted path. But when we share a common denominator in God the Father, our path will invariably intertwine and become interdependent with multiple other paths. It is therefore only when we take into consideration other’s dreams, talents, and desires (such as a child’s interest in shooting fireworks in his back yard) and align them effectively with our own that we produce something great. By contrast, if we pull from our God-ordained path in order to express our own independence separate from those around us (such as in an upstairs bedroom during a major American holiday) we only create strife and turmoil, and maybe some juvenile flickering lights.
In sum, we should remember that independence is never some unrestrained pursuit of one’s personal interest when God is involved. Instead, independence is a delicate blend of individuality focused on–and interdependent with–God. And once we learn to live accordingly, it is then that we will shine brightest.
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