Free to be You and Me ...

I know I'm going to age myself here, but do any of you remember the album (yes, album), "Free to Be You and Me?" It came out in the early 1970s as a project from the Ms. Foundation, spearheaded by Marlo Thomas. There were lots of famous people on the album, including Alan Alda, Mel Brooks, Carol Channing, Diana Ross, etc. There were some great songs on that album including "William's Doll," based on a children's book of the same title.

Recently, one of my kids was playing this album on their iPod (weird, isn't it?).  Hearing the title track really took me back to my childhood. And, the more I listened to the track, the more I realized that it could just have easily have been written today.

There’s a land that I see where the children are free

And I say it ain’t far from this land from where we are

Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free

Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll live

In a land where the river runs free

In a land through the green country

In a land to a shining sea

And you and me are free to be you and me.

I see a land bright and clear, and the time’s comin’ near

When we’ll live in this land, you and me, hand in hand

Take my hand, come along, lend your voice to my song

Come along, take my hand, sing a song

Every boy in this land grows to be his own man

In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman

Take my hand, come with me where the children are free

Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll run

To a land where the river runs free

To a land through the green country

To a land to a shining sea

To a land where the horses run free

To a land where the children are free

And you and me are free to be you and me.

These lyrics, written by Bruce Hart, are still relevant today. While we've come a long way since 1972, there are still many areas in which we have changed very little.

We seem to be living in a time that is growing more and more divisive instead of united. In 1972, people dreamed of a place, a land, where the "children" were free to be themselves. Sadly, in 2011, we still haven't found that place.

We still live in a world that seems to value conformity over differences. I am grateful for people like Lady Gaga who lift up the value of being different, hard as it sometimes is to be different.

As parents, my husband and I have tried to teach our kids the value of being their own people. We've also tried to share with them that being who God created them to be is not always easy or well-received. And, while some say, "kids can be so tough on each other," I'd argue that we, adults, are pretty tough on each other too.

What would it look like to live in a land where "you and me are free to be you and me?"

What would it be like to take off our masks and our "costumes" that we wear every day and just be the people God created us to be?

What would happen if you and I started to be less concerned about what others think of us and started living lives of integrity that embrace the differences in all of us?

Oftentimes people describe me as a pretty transparent person; what you see is pretty much what you get. While I hope that is true most of the time, I know that there are days when I put on my own mask and costume because I'm afraid of how others might judge me or look at me if I really said what I was thinking or feeling.

I realize that, as a parent, I can't tell my kids to be themselves if I'm not living that out in my own life, modeling it for them.

So, after hearing "Free to Be You and Me" again, I've decided it's time to begin living more of the "me" God created and less of the "me" I've created or the world thinks I am. Will it be easy? Probably not. Will everyone like me? Nope. But, will I be able to look myself in the mirror at night and know that I'm living a life of integrity? You bet.

In the grand scheme of things, because of my faith journey, the only "person" I really need to be concerned about is God. "Don't judge by appearance ... The LORD doesn't make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at a person's thoughts and intentions" (1 Samuel 16:7, NLT).