Safety or Excitement?

Life often comes down to one of two paths - Safety or Excitement?

Just recently I watched some neighborhood kids playing on one of those cheap swingsets, the kind that are prone to tilt if you swing too high. One child wrapped a swing around the top bar as much as possible and they climbed into the swing, trying to swing. Another kid used the monkey bar swing as a swing at the same time. A third child was trying to pick up the end of the swingset. They were having a blast. They were living life on the edge. They chose the road of excitement that afternoon. (And no one got hurt either)

Some choices we make in life come down to this one question: Do you want safety or do you want excitement? Driving the speed limit on a mountainous road? Safety. Driving as fast as possible on a mountainous road? Excitement. Running inside during a thunderstorm? Safety. Standing under a tree during a thunderstorm? Excitement. You can take the safe route or you can take the exciting route.

Obviously some of our choices are more than safety vs. excitement. Occasionally they are more about wisdom vs. stupidity.

What do you think? Give me some feedback. Which direction are you most prone to go - safety or excitement? Is there an inclination due to a person's sex, male or female? Does being a parent change your choices?

"Every act of love leads to a new depth of freedom."

What do you think? What is the relationship of love and freedom?
I define love as my commitment to your best. I love my wife by being committed to her best. I love my sons by being committed to their best. I love other people when I am committed to their best. It’s much more than emotions or desires. Love is an expression of my life on behalf of someone else regardless of how high the cost may be. Love is willing to pay any price in order to help someone else reach the highest pinnacle. If I love you, all my resources are available for your best. Love does not always give those resources because occasionally it is not always in the best interests of the other person to give them $20.

Therefore when I love you & willingly offer up all I have and am for your best, I am setting myself free a little more from the trappings of life. When I can let go of whatever I have for your sake, I am more free and more free at a deeper level.

However when I choose to not express love and to hold on to something that could benefit you in some fashion, I find myself entrapped. Love is liberating. Apathy is enslaving.

So it may be that your freedom (or lack) may be a good measure for your actions. You know the amount of love by the amount of freedom.

If these thoughts are true, then it remains that the most shackled person in the world is the one who is most selfish.