Family & Blessings

It's been quite the week of family and remembrance of our freedoms.

I was thinking about this day of independence and started thinking about all the types of freedoms that we enjoy in addition to our free nation. There's freedom from mental illness, physical incapacity, poverty, addiction, abuse, and a myriad of other things. We have the freedom of knowledge and limitless information. Never before in the history of the world has the individual had access to more information than today. And the freedom of knowledge has brought us everything that makes our lives so very cushy and convenient. Electricity, plumbing, medical advancement, vision correction (whew!), and the like are all thanks to the freedom of and to knowledge and information. There are still countless countries across the world with a political and/or economic infrastructure that obstruct these foundational freedoms and thus lead to social and economic stagnation.

And since today was Sonoma's baby blessing, I couldn't help but reflect on the reality that she is being born in some of the most privileged circumstances in all of history and in all areas of the world. And with that immense privilege comes immense responsibility to give in return. We are given such great wealth, health, and education in order to be armed with the tools we need to give, serve, and assist those who have less in life. As the scripture states, "where much is given, much is required". I hope I can teach this lesson to Sonoma and my other girls–that they'll be grateful, service-minded, and humble.

A couple of images from this week: