My little free bird,

I’ve called you that since you were little. You were always the curious one—climbing to the top of the highest tree while your friends were content at the first couple branches.

You were the one staying up late with all the adults around the dinner table, asking them all the really big questions and completely dissatisfied with them when they gave you all the cliche answers.

Yes my dear, you are my free bird. Excitable, passionate, and always looking for the dance in life. Do not be surprised when people try and put you in a box and all of a sudden you feel like you don’t belong, or that you’re ‘too much’.

You’re never too much. The truth is, my love, you don’t belong to anyone. You belong to me.

In my presence, when you channel my voice, you become fully alive and fully YOU. In my presence you have full permission to be yourself. You have freedom to ask all the questions. You have the freedom to try, to fail, to get angry, to get it wrong, to dream, to explore… I am yours and you are mine. When we are together, it is the safest place you will ever be. I am always in your corner. I will never reject you.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that we will always agree on everything, but when I correct you, it is in a way that is life giving. My correction unlocks even more freedom for you. My voice steadily champions you in truth and grace. My pace and my tempo are easy for you. I don’t put unnecessary pressure on you that the world puts. In my good time, I see how my love makes you freer and freer, until my will and yours become one and the same. This is true freedom, to share the desires of my heart for you, because my heart for you is perfect.

So when the days are harsh, when words spoken to you are ignorant or blind, or spoken out of fear or misunderstanding, remember you don’t belong to them. I am your true north. I am your lighthouse. I am your answer, your final word and say. You don’t answer to them. You answer to me.

I have made you the way I have made you for a reason. I have made you all very different from one another, and the truth is, the world needs everything that you are, and you need everything that they are. I’ve designed humanity in such a way that everyone needs each other. The world needs people who can break the silence, and the world needs good listeners. The world needs people that delight in predicable, steady jobs, and those who test boundaries and think up new ideas. The world needs people that are physically strong, and those who are emotionally deep. There is no hero in the story, no self sufficient being, apart from Jesus.

My love, do not let the world diminish your spirit, your fire. All my kids who stay close with me know exactly what kind of permission they have. It doesn’t mean my kids do anything they want. That’s the beauty of our relationship: my kids, when they are fully themselves, connected to My Spirit, approach a conversation or a need just like I would. You know when someone needs you to laugh with them, and when someone needs you to cry with them. Following my lead, walking in obedience to me is when you are most like ‘the YOU’ I dreamed you up to be.

Sweet bird, Run after me as I run after you— for in my presence, in my Lordship over you, is your divine freedom.

Love, Papa.

Matthew 11:28-30 | John 6:37 | Psalm 37:4 | Hebrews 12:6 | Isaiah 54:5 | John 14:15 | 1 Corinthians 6:12 | Galatians 5:1 | 1 Peter 2: 16