Yet, when I was honest with myself, I realized that I DID fear God, and I wondered at how this could be so, since I also loved God. How could I feel both things at the same time? I came to understand (after longer than I want to admit), that the fear was of violating God's law. Because deep down I realized that there was no way around it, because it came from God's love. And that meant I couldn't argue it was unfair.
That single contemplation led directly to the deepest spiritual experiences of my life. And it's also led me to see th world in a kind of black-and-white way - there really are only two kinds of people in the world: those who fear violating God's law, and those who don't.
It's kind of a spiritual intelligence test that measures a single concept: whether a person understands that God's law literally cannot be broken. It might seem that we have that choice, but ultimately, we don't. The only thing that gets broken against God's law, is us.
And from that, we learn everything we need to know - humility, awe, wonder, and love for God deeper than anything we ever thought we could experience.
Thank you, Talisker, for sharing such profound insight! No doubt, along the way, you also began to comprehend something you heard early on in your life: Wisdom comes with age. The two go hand in hand. Again, thanks for the post and ping.