I Like Rules

I like rules.  I never realized how much I like rules.  But, I do.  I like them.  I like to know exactly where the line is, so that I know if or when I'm crossing it.  I like to draw neat, clean lines and show them to others so they know if and when they're crossing them, too.  Rules make things simple, straightforward, uncomplicated.
I don't like messes. When life gets messy, I fight an urge to run the other direction ... a strong urge.
Every day, in my job, I work with people whose lives are messy.  Some of the messiest I've ever seen.  It is often tempting to make rules and draw lines for them (generally, around myself) to keep things from getting any more complicated than they already are.  But, real life relationships with people don't work well like that.  It's very difficult to truly impact a life from a safe distance away.  This truth frustrates me, honestly.  I'd like things to be simpler.  But you know what?  When it's easy, it's never nearly as much fun as when you fight for it.  So, while I'd prefer for there to be hard and fast rules for dealing with messy people, I'm learning that most rules are made to be bent if not broken.  Life is not about rules but about people, about hearts.  Hearts that have been broken and need to be healed.  Rules don't heal.  Grace and mercy, they bring healing.  So, as much as I like rules, I'm working on trading in my love of rules for some extra measures of those ... grace and mercy.

... because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in sinful man,in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:2-4