The freedom of a child turns first to love.  Innocence demands inclusion for all.  In a child’s heart, there is no separation between us but the surface of our skin.  The child’s heart does not see colors of skin or deviant actions (The blackening of Souls).  The child’s heart does not understand violence born of selfish greed.  And the child’s heart is innocent before God.

But soon comes rules and regulation.  “You shall do this, you should not do that.”  The lack of self discipline demands law.  Innocence, or ignorance, is not a license for deviant behavior.  The love of a child quickly turns to obedience in lieu of punitive action.  And isn’t it tragically necessary.

As it is with the little child, so it is for every man.  Law stands as a wall around everyone.  Law is for the deviant.  Freedom is for those who love.

I spent the night in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan.  I learned about the Chippewa who held this land before the Whites came.  I was curious about the state of the Chippewa Nation in today’s economy.  So I looked up their law.  I was surprised to find a lengthy and comprehensive code of law.  For whatever reason, I did not expect to find the law of the Greeks.  I think I expected to find something more akin to the law of natural order.

But my heart is bruised to find such a free people compelled to recognize the laws of the Greeks.

Gone is innocence.  Hello, the literary form of love. 

“You will do this and you will not do that.  You will accept mechanization and technological order.  You will live in houses.  You will drive cars.  You are compelled to receive the education of the Greeks for your children.  You are compelled to bury your people according to the ordinance of the Modern Age. You are no longer a Free People.”

Yes my heart is bruised for the sake of their loss.  It is the same bruising that comes when I look at the transformation of love to a written code. 

Codes of law are for the deviant.  They are not for those who love without restraint.  Beyond the loss of their Natural Freedom,  they have become like the rest of the world; permanently labeled deviant.  And this by a forceful compulsion beyond the dreams of their ancestors who lived long before the law of the Greeks appeared among them.

There is so much to write about this.  So many understandings flood my mind.  From the fact that law is given to man by the wisdom of God, through the indelible stamp of “Guilty” that lays upon all men, and into the regulation of God to restrain the greed that is the nature of man.

The bruise in my heart is to see the loss of freedom.  Perhaps the bruise in my heart is a longing for the place of promise while I live in this place of disrepair.  Perhaps the bruise in my heart is the same engine the prompts fairy tales for children.  Those beautiful stories that remind the child, “Love is still real”.

Love does not need law.  But if you want to see how deviant man has become, look up the code of law for the Greeks.  Visit a library for lawyers.  Every possible infraction against society, and even ourselves, has been written down with its appropriate boundaries and punishments. 

What then shall we say about those who call themselves “The Free World”?  The love of God in Christ is the only freedom that has no boundaries.  The love of God in Christ is the only freedom against which there is no law.  The love of God in Christ is the Light that shows me the bruise on my heart.  It is, indeed, a longing for a land from which I did not come.

If you want to see what shook my soul to write these words, here is the link.  http://www.narf.org/nill/codes/sault_ste_marie/