A Patriotic Hodgepodge

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Canada and USA represented in my mug collection!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  What does freedom mean to you?

 

I guess the shortest personal definition I can come up with is that it's choosing my own adventure. Freedom means I have lots of opportunity to choose how to spend my time and effort and money, and being able to enjoy what I've worked for and the life I've chosen. Personal freedom and personal responsibility and integrity go together. In order to enjoy real freedom, we have to be willing to make wise and right choices in exercising it. Freedom also means confidence and peace. The greatest freedom we can experience is when we choose to follow Jesus, because he will set us free from the traps that sin has us in. 

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. ~Peter Marshall

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." 

~John 8:31-36~

2. How will you celebrate Independence Day this year? If you live outside the USA answer this question as it relates to your own country's patriotic holiday, wherever that may land on the calendar.

We will be spending the long weekend with our Maryland family, and it will undoubtedly include watching fireworks, and we'll attend at least one party. We also found out that Granville (here in Ohio) is having their fireworks on Wednesday night (tonight!) so we're planning to go enjoy their show. We went last year and they did a really good job of it. Some year we'll go to Red White and Boom in downtown Columbus, but I guess it won't be this year!

Canada Day is on July 1st and since that is where we are originally from, we do recognize that patriotic holiday, though our celebration is pretty low-key when it falls in the middle of a week. Like yesterday, we grilled steaks and I made sure we had HP Sauce for them, and our evening coffee was sipped from Canada mugs.

 

 3. This or that . . . red, white, or blue? Stars or stripes? Watermelon, home-made ice cream, or blueberry pie? How do you feel about fireworks?

 Blue is usually my go-to color of the three. Stars, I guess. Definitely home-made ice cream! I love fireworks!

 

4. What have you purchased recently that made you excited?

 Hmmm. Since there haven't been many recent purchases, I guess I could say I was pretty excited to get my new garden flag. I'd wanted to put a flag up at our front door somewhere, but we weren't sure we were allowed to mount a flagpole holder on the fence or anything, so I decided this was exactly the situation that called for a garden flag. 

5.  I'm thankful to live in America (or fill in whatever country you call home) because ________.

 

 Because America really is the greatest nation when it comes to personal rights and freedoms, and because I can't imagine being as safe or prosperous anywhere else. It's certainly not a perfect country, obviously, but generally speaking the principles and values on which it was founded are solid and good.

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Patriotism happens to be the current theme for the Wednesday Quotes link-up. I would love to have you stop by and read, and I hope you'll join in too. You can find it here: WQ - Patriotism

What does freedom mean to you, and how are you celebrating Independence Day? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

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