If a river was free to leave its path, to be liberated from the restriction of its banks, it would become a destructive force and would eventually cease to exist. A river is a powerful force when it has direction and a place to go to.
To simply do whatever we want soon gets boring and meaningless. To be a good human being, husband, wife or friend, takes direction and discipline. It is then that the happiness of a good marriage or a deep friendship is experienced.
We are also called into the freedom of being a child of God. The freedom to grow in love allows us to shake off the shackles of self-centeredness that lead to isolation in the end. When we live out of our true image of being child of God we are free to build up, to support and when we can to heal those around us. Not to beat down or manipulate. The reward of love is to love more.
The reward of self-centeredness is an ever shrinking world with ‘self’ as the reward. It is called hell. But journeys are difficult, such world we live in.
