I played on this farm as a child, and today I still live on a large, old farm with a large garden, horses, and chickens. This toy farm symbolizes personal freedom for me, as I don't have to conform to hierarchies and have the entrepreneurial freedom to make decisions. The garden provides fruit and vegetables, the chickens provide eggs, and the horses provide spiritual nourishment. In a way, this also makes me self-sufficient and free. However, for me, freedom never stands alone; it is simultaneously conditioned by responsibility and respect for the animals, nature, and the people with whom we live and work on the farm. Freedom can be quite exhausting... I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Oman and the Emirates. On this trip, I became very aware again of how strongly we are shaped by our Christian (Lutheran) faith—according to our Christian beliefs, this belief in God immediately makes us "free," without any conditions and without religious constraints or limitations. It also makes me “free” in my daily life on the farm, and for this reason I have placed a small Luther here, which I received as a gift last year for the Reformation anniversary.
