Pockets or No Pockets
The boys are back in school this week. Tuesday was the first day back after 6 days off for Spring Break.
Jacob was excited about going back to school for one reason only: shorts. According to the Clovis Unified School District dress code, kids may wear shorts the first week where the Monday falls within April. Yes, this is Clovis schools where they have time to make up such rules. You should see the other codes about clothing & grooming.
At any rate, Jacob was excited to finally wear his shorts. He would gladly wear shorts all day, all year. Imagine our surprise Tuesday when he came home wearing different shorts. He had to go to the office & change into shorts provided him by the school nurse. His own shorts had been illegal.
The offense? Not length -- they were down to his knees. Not color or fabric -- nothing unusual there. Not weight -- these were lined shorts. The problem was pockets. His shorts had none. School district policy says that shorts must have pockets. That single factor appears to be the main criterion for judging the appropriateness of shorts in Clovis schools.
My response? Are you kidding me!?! As one of our West Virginia friends pointed out, pockets are so handy for hiding iPods, gum, candy, knives and other contraband. Why wouldn't they ban pockets instead demanding them?
I'm sure the intent is to mandate a nicer quality of shorts rather than just gym or running shorts. But the rule misses the point. It focuses attention off the real issue and makes teachers into legalists, having to ask, "Do those shorts have pockets? Let me see. Show me your pockets." How crazy! Just what every teacher needs to be doing -- inspecting pockets.
That's the problem with rules. When people try to legalize something, even with good intentions, they end up steering the focus away from the intent. People instead learn how to game the system, how to just scrape by with the minimum. They stop asking, "Do these shorts look good enough to wear to school?" and instead ask, "Do these shorts have pockets?"
The church has its own problems with rules. Christians with good intentions try to make rules all the time: Don't go to dances, don't drink any beer, don't touch your girlfriend below the waist, take the Lord's Supper every week, etc. These rules are all put forward by well meaning people and there were good reasons why they laid out these mandates. But as soon as rules are spelled out, rules that the Bible itself didn't explicitly spell out, then we immediately take the focus off the spirit of what God wants from our lives. We instead learn how to game the system, how to just scrape by with the minimum.
But God doesn't want the minimum. He doesn't keep a tally of your rule abidance.
God wants more. All of you. Nothing less. Rules, even well written ones, eventually take our focus off what God really wants. Complete devotion.
Jacob was excited about going back to school for one reason only: shorts. According to the Clovis Unified School District dress code, kids may wear shorts the first week where the Monday falls within April. Yes, this is Clovis schools where they have time to make up such rules. You should see the other codes about clothing & grooming.
At any rate, Jacob was excited to finally wear his shorts. He would gladly wear shorts all day, all year. Imagine our surprise Tuesday when he came home wearing different shorts. He had to go to the office & change into shorts provided him by the school nurse. His own shorts had been illegal.
The offense? Not length -- they were down to his knees. Not color or fabric -- nothing unusual there. Not weight -- these were lined shorts. The problem was pockets. His shorts had none. School district policy says that shorts must have pockets. That single factor appears to be the main criterion for judging the appropriateness of shorts in Clovis schools.
My response? Are you kidding me!?! As one of our West Virginia friends pointed out, pockets are so handy for hiding iPods, gum, candy, knives and other contraband. Why wouldn't they ban pockets instead demanding them?
I'm sure the intent is to mandate a nicer quality of shorts rather than just gym or running shorts. But the rule misses the point. It focuses attention off the real issue and makes teachers into legalists, having to ask, "Do those shorts have pockets? Let me see. Show me your pockets." How crazy! Just what every teacher needs to be doing -- inspecting pockets.
That's the problem with rules. When people try to legalize something, even with good intentions, they end up steering the focus away from the intent. People instead learn how to game the system, how to just scrape by with the minimum. They stop asking, "Do these shorts look good enough to wear to school?" and instead ask, "Do these shorts have pockets?"
The church has its own problems with rules. Christians with good intentions try to make rules all the time: Don't go to dances, don't drink any beer, don't touch your girlfriend below the waist, take the Lord's Supper every week, etc. These rules are all put forward by well meaning people and there were good reasons why they laid out these mandates. But as soon as rules are spelled out, rules that the Bible itself didn't explicitly spell out, then we immediately take the focus off the spirit of what God wants from our lives. We instead learn how to game the system, how to just scrape by with the minimum.
But God doesn't want the minimum. He doesn't keep a tally of your rule abidance.
God wants more. All of you. Nothing less. Rules, even well written ones, eventually take our focus off what God really wants. Complete devotion.
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