So we all have probably talked about the whole praying for a good parking spot thing. Should we? Shouldn’t we? Does God care?

Well, this isn’t really about all that.

I was thinking more of the liberation of not needing, or even wanting, a parking spot close to the entrance. It saves energy, time, and perhaps even…prayer. All three of those can be used for other things.

Since my wife  acquired a FitBit, she has been religiously tracking her number of steps per day with a goal of six miles’ worth. This is quite the challenge with her sit-at-desk job. So, whenever we’re out, she parks at the first space we find, usually in the back of the lot, so as to get an extra couple hundred steps in.

I too typically park far from the front door, as I enjoy walking with my healthy, semi-hairless legs God gave me.

When you don’t really care about where you park and, therefore, don’t even look, it takes a small bit of stress out of your day. It’s a non-issue. You’re happy with whatever. Walking is nice, but close is fine too.

What I especially enjoy is when people circle the lot a few times looking for that sweet close spot AT THE GYM!!! Hahahaha. Wow. No need to wear yourself out with that 30 yard walk/warm-up before you exercise. Seriously, people.

Anyway, the point is not parking spots or exercise, it’s a metaphor for our lives of course. The more that’s off the table the freer we are. The less we need or want, the more liberty we live in.

My mom has bad knees. She has one of those stick people in a wheel chair cards hanging from her rear view mirror. There’s some spiritual metaphor there too.

Here’s an equation we could use for measuring personal liberty:

100/Needs = Freedom

(Using only positive integers, for simplicity’s sake, makes the highest possible score 100)

It shows that the fewer things you require to be happy, the greater freedom you live in.