Update of the Stolen Bike

Once upon a time my bike was stolen...I have already written a post on that one. It was exciting.
The other day I received a letter telling me that the girl (yes it was a girl) who stole my bike is being arrested/called to court for a myriad of things. Turns out that if you steal a bike it's bad, but if you sell is illegally to a pawn shop it's worse. :/
They have asked me to send them a letter and receipts indicating how much I would like to be reimbursed basically. So...without a receipt (because I had to buy it with cash and somehow I didn't get a receipt?) I will write them and let them know that yes, it would be great to have $30 back. And can they restore my basket too?
I felt strange about this whole situation. Justice vs. Mercy. I kept going back and forth thinking, what if she really needed that $30? What if her family is starving and she's just trying to help out? On the other hand, perhaps she bought drugs with it? Or perhaps some make-up because she's trying to impress a boy? So many reasons. I thought to myself, it doesn't matter, it's just money and I am fine. I don't want her to get in trouble. I don't want her life to be turned upside down because of this one mistake. And yet, we believe in Justice. It's such a fragile balance.
I want there to be Mercy. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. Then I thought of the Atonement. We are thankfully blessed with Mercy. But there is Justice as well. Someone has to be punished. Christ takes our punishment for us. HOWEVER, we still remember the sin or wrong doing and we individually punish ourselves internally before true repentance can take place. That's at least what has happened to me before. Then we turn ourselves over to Christ and the suffering is taken away. BUT we remember our sin and there are still consequences on this earth for the things we do. Thus, we have a legal system that hopefully justly punishes those for their wrongdoings. I hope things work out okay for this girl. I am sad she stole and then sold my bike but I hope that this is the extent of her mistakes. I hope she is punished fairly for the laws of the land she broke but then can continue to press forward and improve herself and hopefully not make the same mistakes again.

Also, take this post to remind yourself that we have a check and balance system in our government...cool huh?