The Magnificent Treehouse

It was almost finished! Zoe and Justin's SUPER-AMAZING new TREEHOUSE!
It had 3 ladders, a curly slide, a tire swing, and a pirate ship on one end.
They had been building it all summer long, with their Dad, and were now just putting the finishing touches on it.
"We need to paint pictures for the walls!" said Zoe.
"And get snacks!" added Justin.
"And curtains for the windows," said Zoe.
"And donuts!" cried Justin. "And cookies, and candy, and popcicles and cupcakes and..."
"NO! We are not having all that food in our treehouse, Justin, it will get too messy!" Zoe said.
"Ok, then you can't put your art supplies up there either. They are messy too!"
"Fine."
"Justin, we need to write down some rules, so that our treehouse stays nice, and doesn't get dirty and wrecked."

Zoe and Justin found a large board, and wrote their new rules on it.  Some were Zoe's rules, and some were Justins.

       1. NO adults allowed!
       2. NO jumping or yelling inside!
       3. NO cats or dogs or frogs or other animals!
       4. NO snacks or drinks or food!
       5. NO messy or stinky things!
       6. NO paint or art stuff!
       7. NO shoes or dirty feet!
       8. NO dirty clothes!

They hung the RULES sign on the door of the treehouse, and stood back to admire their work.
Zoe started climbing the ladder.
"Hey! you can't go in there!" Justin pointed at Zoe's shirt. "Your shirt is dirty! Rule number 8!"
Zoe looked at her shirt, it was covered in red paint.

"Wow! Your treehouse is done!" called Alice and Sam, their neighbours from across the street. They ran into the back yard with their dog Max, and started to climb the ladder.
"Wait!" yelled Zoe. "You can't go in there! Rule number 3 - no dogs!"
"Ok, we'll take Max home", Sam said sadly.
"Can I bring back some cookies my mom just made?" Alice wondered.
Zoe pointed to rule number 4, and shook her head. "No food allowed."
Sam, Alice and Max slowly walked back home.

"Well, at least I can go in!" Justin hollered, climbing into the treehouse.
Inside, he looked around. "Hey, I can't eat snacks, I can't yell or jump, and my friends are all outside."
"This treehouse is NOT any fun!"

"Hey! That looks like a great treehouse!" their next door neighbor Granny Grace called from over the fence.
"Not really," answered Zoe, "we have too many rules, and we can't even go in it."
"Oh - rules shmules!" yelled Granny, climbing over the fence.  "Its a treehouse - its not supposed to have rules, its supposed to be fun!"

Granny painted a new sign  - "One rule - Come on in and have fun!"

Granny Grace scooted up the ladder. Soon all the kids were up in the treehouse, eating Alice's chocolate chip cookies and telling knock-knock jokes.

"Ok everybody, isn't this treehouse much better without all those rules, that you couldn't even keep?"
"YES!" they yelled, through cookie crumbs.

"Did you know..." continued Granny Grace, "that some people think they have to try to keep lots of tough rules to make God happy?"
"They find, and even make up all kinds of rules, and try really hard to keep them, thinking that's how God wants them to live."
"Like what rules?" Alice wanted to know.
"Oh, like, what you can and can't do on Sundays...what you should wear, things you should and shouldn't do."
Granny smiled, "but nobody can follow rules perfectly! Only Jesus makes us perfect!"
"Following rules is about what WE do, but its about what JESUS has done for us! He is the one that makes us good, NOT the rules we obey!"

"Cool - I don't have to follow any more rules!" Justin stuffed three cookies in his mouth.
"Well, Justin, we have rules in our world for safety and living a happy life. Jesus IN you wants to obey the rules that our parents and leaders give. But its not following the rules that makes you good - its Jesus.

"And you know what God says?" Granny smiled, "Its just like your treehouse - He says - stop looking at all the rules - come on with me and have FUN!"

"Now, I'll lets go try out that pirate ship!" yelled Granny, swinging down the rope.