I remember a certain moment of exasperation with a certain child as the bunch of 6 (at the time) and I were rushing off to school one morning.
The moment came at the insistence of the usual seating plan needing to be adhered to when for whatever reason that morning it was more expedient to just tumble in and GO. My question to them was “what is the heart of that rule?” The answer for them might have been fairness (front seat turns) but for me it was efficiency since I didn’t want the front seat discussion every journey- so I created a guideline (rule/roster/structure) to manage it.
That child was old enough to get my meaning, so that day the tumble worked, the rule was tossed out and the heart of the purpose for the rule won out over the rule.
Every rule, roster, structure has reason behind it.
Road rules create a known-ness of what others will also do on the roads.
My seating plan accounted for a baby, a toddler, kids with long legs who didn’t want to be cramped behind the capsule and all of legal ages to have turns in the front.
And God’s words, if taken dimensinless and flat will only be rules held stridently to, wheedled around or argued against – if the breath of Life and invitation to know the heart of The Giver is blocked.