Article May 4, 1987 Issue

Opening the way to freedom

What would block the door to freedom? Is it anything that cannot be removed by the power of Christ?

Patricia S. Kelson

Early one morning I heard a scratching sound in my room, as though a bird had fallen into the chimney. There was no fireplace in the room, but there was a vent covered by a metal mesh screwed to the wall; in front of that stood a chest of drawers. I moved the furniture, found a screwdriver, and proceeded to take out the screws holding the mesh in position. I looked into the opening, but I couldn't see or hear anything. I waited. Nothing happened. Then I moved away from the hole and suddenly out flew a bird. It made straight for the open window and freedom.

I couldn't help thinking of an interpretation given to a Bible verse—"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."^{Gen. 1:20.} Commenting on this text, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal and divine Principle, Love."^{Science and Health, pp. 511–512.} Just as that bird made for the open window and the skies beyond, so we yearn for and seek to attain freedom, working for it with great persistence.

Yet for many the way appears blocked or obscured. Life at times seems so precarious; fear, hatred, despair, lack, envy, are prisons even for those who appear to be free. What can remove these obstacles? What power can release us? The way to freedom is found through Christ, Truth, which leads us to understand man's completely spiritual nature as the child of God.

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