Independence starts young. We want to go our own way. We run into the street or through a grocery store to see if our parents will chase us. Most seek to become independent of their parents, saying they can’t wait to get out on their own.

We buy our own house, our own car, our own stuff, and put up a fence – either physically or figuratively.  We don’t need our family, our neighbors, we can make it on our own.  We live in a newer housing development. It’s taken two years for some in our neighborhood to even wave to us. We don’t need anyone, we’re independent.

Then we escape into technology. We watch our own shows – any program at any time we want. We don’t even have to face real people. We can send them an email or a text. We can take pot shots with relative anonymity on social media. We don’t even have to talk to our family during a meal. We’re independent.

We can now go to church, buy groceries, fill out a rental storage unit with junk, do pretty much whatever we want without talking to another person. We can buy pretty much everything and have it delivered to our home. We’re independent.

I traveled to Memphis for a work trip. Realized when I got home, that outside my appointments, I barely talked to anyone. Sat shoulder to shoulder to someone on a plane, stood in lines, and was near people much of the time, but had few conversations. This from a guy who’d talk to a tree.

And then we wonder why we’re lonely. We wonder why we feel isolated.

1 Peter 2:16 ESV – Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

I think our freedom is a cover-up. I think some of the evil around us is from our lack of need and consideration for others. We’ve walked away from God because we don’t need inconvenient ideas or rules. We’re independent.

I’m going to find a couple trees to talk to.