Misunderstood in the Modern World
Freedom is such a misunderstood word in the modern world, almost as misunderstood as NFP. Fortunately a clearer understanding of one can lead to a better understanding of the other. Many people seem to think that freedom means merely the license to do something independent of any constraint. The freedom to stay up until 2am playing video games and eating ice cream is an example. This diminished view of freedom sees it in negative light, as a lack of restraint.
Creative Freedom
Fortunately, we are called to something higher than insomnia and diabetes. Freedom is better construed as a positive quality. Through the restraint of self-discipline, we can gain powerful freedoms, such as the freedom a musician has to create music. An artist like Tony Melendez can use discipline to learn to play guitar even though he doesn’t have hands or arms. My friend John practices piano so he is free to come to my house and play. I’m not even free to play in my own house as I haven’t practiced in 20 years. I could pummel the ivories and call it music, but everyone’s ears would be a witness to my lack of musical freedom.
Natural Family Planning is also misunderstood in a negative light as a lack of sexual intercourse, or as a lack of adult freedoms when the restricting children appear. On the contrary, NFP is an enabling freedom similar to the creative freedom of a musician. NFP is a self-imposed discipline. It can enable the highest order of creative processes: conceiving, birthing, and raising a child of God. The better grasp of the sexual powers that comes from learning NFP empowers a husband and wife. They appreciate the gift of life and understand the infinite value of the goal towards which their discipline points. Appreciating the full value of raising a child helps potential parents correctly weigh the blessings with the challenges.
Yielding Fruit
In this case, responsible parenthood is an excellent example of freedom yielding fruit. Our peers who direct it towards self-fulfillment are often able to achieve that goal on a limited scale but many regret their choices when they realize that they still yearn for something greater. Whereas those of us who commit our freedom to the service of the next generation suffer and sacrifice greatly for their well-being only to achieve the aim of a long letting go while they decide how to apply it to their lives. We hope that our example of freely given love inspires our children to lead similar lives of service to those around them while remembering that even our Eternal Father allows us to use our free will for good and ill. Fortunately, we are always free to pray.
Written by Jim Volpe. Jim lives in eastern PA with his wife Jen and their five children. Jim and Jen have been a CCL teaching couple for 18 years and Jim is a FSI coach. When not teaching NFP, Jim enjoys board games, video games, splitting wood, and software engineering. Jim is our newest CCL board member.