FREEDOM GAINED THROUGH OBEDIENCE

A good example of the freedom gained through obedience is found in family life. Children need attention, money has to be gotten, my wife must be listened to even when I feel my resources drained. Obedience to these limits within the discipline of family life brings with it a certain freedom which is found in love. Love as a father and as a husband is deeper than an I have ever known, and I know that this has been made possible through the countless acts of obedience to familial limits that i have made over the years: doing this or that because I know that I have to as a father and as a husband. Love without obedience to these limits and rules is a shallow love, unable to really give except when it feels good to do so…. I have found that through the limits of obedience I grow beyond the confines of the self with its desires and traps.

(Brain Taylor, Spirituality for Everyday Living)