The self-sacrificing, servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood.

Eugene Peterson points out that "the root meaning in Hebrew of salvation is to be broad, to become spacious, to enlarge. It carries the sense of deliverance from an existence that has become compressed, confined and cramped." God wants to set free, to make it possible for us to live open and loving lives with God and our neighbors. "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free," wrote the psalmist.

A philosophy may explain difficult things, but has no power to change them. The gospel, the story of Jesus' life, promises change.

Release what is good.

We're concerned with how things turn out; God seems more concerned with how we turn out.

We should do whatever we can to cut through the scum that has grown on our understanding and rediscover freshness.

We respond to healing grace by giving it away.