I am free!

Last Saturday, June 6, I was entering through the Lions Gate into the Muslim quarter of the old city of Jerusalem.  I was walking with those in our group, laughing, enjoying the adventure.  As we were about to enter the gate my eye caught a woman in a black burka, sitting alone  in the back seat of the car.

I  glanced and then glanced back.  I could see only her eyes and I noticed they were blue.  I nodded and she waived at me. I looked her in the eye and waived back. We truly connected for just a brief moment in time.

That moment has not left my thought process. Her religion has relegated her to being known only by her eyes.  She had watched us walk up the hill to the Lions Gate entrance.  That brief interchange of our eyes connecting and our waves told me that she was longing to be known, to be free, to be unfettered.  I do not know her story.  I do know that I won't forget her.  Her eyes spoke volumes to me.

My freedom to enjoy the world unfettered by a covering, a set of rules that hopefully would get me into heaven if I do enough of them accurately, never knowing for certain if I truly made the cut brings me to tears and is a gift beyond value.

I live in a country where I am valued as a woman. I am free to be who God made me to be.  I am married to an awesome man who values my opinion and honors me as a human and his wife.  I was free to choose who I married and not assigned a mate at the age of 13. 

My brief encounter with this woman last week has changed me.  I wish I could have talked to her.  I now pray for her. I pray for so many who are trapped not just in burkas but in journeys that take them from knowing freedom and The Lord, who alone can give us hope and true freedom.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln