Rules and Love

This week I have been preparing a Sunday School lesson for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade youth at my church.  The lesson is on Romans 13:8-14, where Paul lays out the "rules" of the Ten Commandments and sums them up with "Love your neighbor as yourself."  It got me to thinking about rules that my parents made for me when I was younger.  At the time I thought my parents were mean or that they were controlling or sometimes they were just downright wrong.  Most of the rules centered about what I was not to do, "Don't stay out past 10pm, Don't drive downtown its dangerous, Do your homework," etc, etc.  All of us can relate to these rules from when we were younger and hopefully most of us now understand that those rules weren't a list of don'ts but really were created to keep us safe and were created out of love.  Now that I'm a parent I see that many, okay to be honest probably all, of the rules my parents created were out of love and concern.  As a parent I feel like I still give my kids a list of don'ts, and sometimes I get that look of "well, is there anything I can do?!" I stop to reassure my kids that really this is out of love and concern.  When I tell them don't go out in the road or don't swing that stick at your sister, it's because I love them.  Maybe my parents were right after all...yes Mom and Dad I think you might have been right after all.  Peace and God Bless.