Each of us is unique.  From before the beginning, God has a plan for us, which he carefully works out.  I believe He chooses our parents, and selects the genes we will have.  It is a part of His plan that we are tall or short, blond or brunette.  It is His doing that we are mechanically or artistically inclined.  He is working in our world to bring glory to Himself, and He needs many different kinds of people to bring that plan to completion.  Each of us has a unique place in the overall plan.

    But very early in life some of us are forced into somebody else’s mold.  Some father wants a son to be a football star, when he would rather gaze at the stars.  Some mother wants a daughter to be a ballerina, when she would rather be a banjo player.  If the desire is strong enough, the son or daughter might try to fulfill the parent’s dream, even though it doesn’t fit.  And life becomes a sort of prison from which there seems to be no escape.

    Even those of us who have escaped that kind of dominance, still live with the expectations of others pressing in upon us.  I am not talking about the expectation that we will do our best, live honest and honorable lives, and contribute something to the common good.  Expectations such as these are good for us.  They push us on to achieve a higher happiness.  I am talking about the expectations, which if we meet them, force us to be something we were not meant to be.  We become prisoners of the desires of others.

    I have felt such pressures and expectations even in the Christian community.  The expectations as to what a “good” preacher (or even Christian) must look like.  Dress, activities, choices are carefully scrutinized to see if they measure up.  I have in time past found myself a prisoner of the desires of others.  It is not a good place to be. 

    The most glorious experiences have been mine when I have discovered I was a prisoner, a “man pleaser,” and determined to throw off the yoke and be free.  What liberty when I am free to be me!  Why did I ever let myself become captive?  And why can’t I let others be free?

    For just as surely as I have the need to be free to be me, I also have the desire for others to be free to be me.  Not free to be them.  Free to be me.  So I deny them the uniqueness I claim for myself.

    Am I alone in this?  I think not.  Many of us are guilty.  There are those in bondage to our  vision of what they should be.

    Strike off the chains.  Yours and others.  Jesus came to set the captives free.  Help make it real.