We lived near the end of a dead-end road, and I loved leading my youngest horse into the woods on a trail that looped back toward our land. When we emerged from the woods into a neighbor’s big field, I’d take off his halter and send him galloping the half mile back to his herd, his flaxen mane flying in the wind. I could only imagine how good it felt to him to run free like that—something horses were made to do.

Who doesn’t long for freedom? To some in many parts of the world, it might be freedom from oppressive governments; to others, from limiting fears, unhealthy relationships, debilitating mental or physical conditions, or grief. We may long not only to find freedom ourselves but also to help others break free from these and other problems. 

How to do it is the million-dollar question. Human reasoning is inherently incapable of answering it, because reasoning based on input from the physical senses will always run up against a fence eventually, being limited in its very nature. King David in the Bible hinted at an answer when he prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psalms 51:12). And St. Paul found transformative freedom after learning to know himself spiritually through Christ. He said, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).