Outrageously Conservative

Sorry, but this is not a political posting, just an attempt at a clever title. Have you ever been tempted to do something a bit on the wild side? Perhaps you have reached that point in your life where the wearing of a striped tie with a plaid shirt is your definition of wild and crazy, or just plain stupid. Our definition of what constitutes extreme, wild, crazy, or stupid tends to narrow as we grow older. A male child does not know there are rules to fashion until he tries them out on Mom. Then he begins a personal rating system based on Mom's reaction. A shriek is well-selected clothing just about right for wearing to school; a low growl an ensemble that must be reconsidered. Later, the female child will test Dad in the same way during her teenage years, while the male child will have settled on a personal style seen by adults as disreputable.

Children must endure those years where it seems that everyone, and they do mean everyone, is trying to impose a will on them that does not suit. Government says school for x hours on y days; teachers give loads of homework, chores begin to weigh on freedom, local governments have more rules for behavior enforced through the police, and... parents often remind them that these are the best years of their little lives. Then, there is God, who, on Sunday and perhaps Wednesday and maybe a few other days has a will that trumps all. Hellfire and damnation await those who cross the Great One's will and worse, He makes them sit in church for an interminable part of every weekend. Yes, we remember fondly those years of selfish moaning over the perceived unfairness of it all.

Little did it occur to the young rebels that God wanted what was best even for the self-centered, and so did parents, teachers, governors, and pretty much everyone else. We, like the generations before us, generally learned the hard way that all those rules were for our own good. Usually our first good behavior began through fear of punishment. Later, as Jesus began to make a change in our heart, we found a desire to do good came from a will within that we didn't know was possible. Our apparel may have become outrageously conservative through training and a bit of trial and error, but the heart remained firmly rebellious until Jesus made that change.

Have a Christ-full day, and try not to get lost in those wavy years of the past. :-)

Bucky