Those "Holy" McVeys

My eleven year old granddaughter, Hannah, comes running to Melanie this past weekend:

Hannah: Grandmommy, Jeremy just choked me!
Melanie: He choked you?
Hannah: Yes, look at the red mark on my neck!
Melanie: Go tell Jeremy to come here.

Melanie: Jeremy, did you choke Hannah?
Jeremy: Shakes his head yes with a guilty expression on his face.
Melanie: Jeremy, you can't choke your sister.
Jeremy: I can't go to jail until I'm thirteen.
Melanie: Jeremy, nobody has said anything about going to jail. You don't choke your sister because you love her! Do you love Hannah?
Jeremy: Shakes his head yes again.
Melanie: Do you think there's anything you want to tell her?
Jeremy: I'm sorry.
Melanie: That's a good idea.
Jeremy goes into the other room and apologizes.

Yep, that's my daughter's children! Jeremy really is a sweet boy. No, really. I'll admit though that his train seriously jumped the track with that incident.

It's noteworthy that the first response that popped into his seven year old head was about the law and jail. The little legalist - takes after his dad's side of the family.

I'm kidding, of course, but the issue here is that it is the bent of the flesh to think in legalistic terms. Would it be wrong to do this or that? Would I be punished for doing it?

We miss the point altogether. It's not about right versus wrong or about punishment. The catalyst for our lives is to be love. When our lifestyle is grounded in our union with Triune Love, we live from that benchmark, not a set of rules that come with a corresponding set of rewards and punishment. We act lovingly because Love is our DNA. In Him we live (and love) and move and exist.

So, when your own behavior jumps track at times, don't look upward to an imaginary Judge of the Universe who stands ready to send you to jail. Look into the face of Pure Love and you'll find yourself wanting to behave well on the basis of His attitude and actions toward you.