In his famous poem Mending Wall Robert Frost said, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down.” I am periodically reminded of his thought as I take hammer in hand and make a tour of my house tapping in nails that seem determined to be free. Or maybe it’s the house that doesn’t want the nails thinking of them as unnecessary irritants. As the seasons pass with really cold January nights combined with steaming August afternoons this old house sweats and shivers, contracting and retracting, those ever so secure nails little by little work their way out. But I and my trusty hammer are up to the task.
My contortion of Frost reads, “There’s something that doesn’t love a house, that wants it down.” My wife’s parents spent their final days in central Wisconsin. Their farm was surrounded by abandoned farms with falling down houses. A house without a human doesn’t stand a chance.
Rules are like walls. There is something about us that rebels at the idea of a rule telling us we can’t do something. But those rules are walls to protect us from what’s on the other side. Each of God’s rules has a very specific aim to protect us from the natural consequences of certain behaviors. How often when we were young did we say, “I don’t see any reason for that.” Just because we weren’t smart enough to see the reason did not make it safe to do. In his wisdom Frost wrote, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out.” How sad it is that we often learn the reason after it is too late. Just like my house needs nails so my character needs rules.
Written by Roger Bothwell on April 22, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org