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These Good Ol' Days of Freedom


Oh, how the years go by!

I can hear Little One lecturing as I read from the "good ol' days":


"I'm listening to my 3 year old list all the rules... 
  • 'we're not going to bite,
  • or lick anything, 
  • or spill our food on our clothes, 
  • tell a lie, 
  • or get in mom's room, 
  • or touch the computer, 
  • or open the refrigerator, 
  • & we're not going in the road, 
  • & we write only on paper, 
  • not on walls, 
  • not on the floor, 
  • not on furniture,..."
So many rules.  She might deliberately disobey, but she was listening.

" -- the list just ended (I am trying not to laugh since she's standing right here) she said, 

'no, we don't do that, 
we have to be nice. 
we'll just sit real still and listen to the Bible' 
-- well, she's been indoctrinated, I guess.

And as if those weren't burden enough,
she made up her own "commandments" to add to the list.


I think my favorite was 
  • 'we only throw up in the toilet or in a bowl, 
  • not on our clothes, 
  • or on our bed, 
  • or on our shoes, 
  • or on our books, 
  • or on our toys...' 
OR 
  • 'we don't touch that, 
  • & we don't touch this,
  • & we don't touch these' 
(touching each item as she lists it)

... 20 minutes of rules"
I had no idea she could think of so many!


Precious little Pharisee, 
she obviously knew the rules
but couldn't keep them.

Today, she doesn't bite
or put things in her mouth
or write on walls. 


Choosing to stay near the house, away from the road and pond, she is allowed go outside without a big brother posted guard.

No longer smuggling crayons or scissors to create scribble-murals on her bedroom walls or trim several inches off one of her pig-tails, she has discovered the joys of art within the boundaries and can help herself to crayons, markers, scissors, construction paper, water colors, and all the supplies in the cupboard.


Aaaah, "The Law of Freedom". I have a new appreciation as I read through the book of James again.

I'm living in the "good ol' days". These are the days of grace and freedom. 


It is so much easier to keep the law when I'm not a slave to selfishness and when I am governed by the Spirit of God rather than a list of rules.

Enjoying freedom in Christ, the law is pretty simple:

Love God.  Love Others.
"All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."  Matthew 22:40





As eldest enters the teen years, the rules of the house are changing, but the principles of freedom are the same. 

-- Oh, precious years with my children still in the home! --

Lord, help me to teach and disciple them to know the Law, yet to live in freedom.

 "...if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."  Galatians 5:18
 "...through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."  Romans 8:2