"Boundaries define us.
They define what is me and what is not me.
A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins..."
~Henry Cloud
Can I be real for a minute? Boundaries are really hard for me. I really struggle with the feeling that I am failing in life when I set them. I do not think I am necessarily alone here either. I think we often associate boundaries with "mean" people. You know those people who are the last to help anyone ever. We think of boundaries as the meanest rendition of Ebenezer Scrooge.
God has been teaching me a lot about needing to establish boundaries over the past few years, but the last couple of months have felt like boot camp in boundary setting! Which then results in incredible guilt that I am upsetting people....
"A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins,
leading me to a sense of ownership.
Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom"
~Henry Cloud
Imagine the United States without state boundaries....
What kind of chaos exists in that scenario?
Now image each state without county boundaries....
Now think of you neighbors....
What happens if you neighborhood has no boundaries?
What if those property lines did not exist?
Who is responsible or weeding what flower bed?
Who is responsible to mow what part of the lawn?
Boundaries in real life help us recognize what we are responsible for maintaining.
This applies to the scenario of your neighborhood, but also to our personal life.
Boundaries help create order.
If you think about it God starts our story with boundaries.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"
Genesis 1:1
God starts the story of all creation by defining two separate entities.
Heaven and Earth.
They have a distinct different role to play in the story that is beginning to unfold.
They have boundaries that set them apart from one another.
It is out of this story that creation continues all the way to you and I.
God created us distinctly separate.
God created us with natural physical boundaries.
The crazy thing is that God creates us with boundaries for a really good reason!
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same LORD. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work."
So here is the amazing thing that God has been showing me about boundaries.
They are there so I do not have to do it all and be all things to all people.
It is humanly impossible for me to help everyone I want to help.
And that is ok.
Boundaries are God's way of encouraging me to recognize my limits and be the best version of the person he created me to be.
When I recognize and set my boundaries from a better understanding of how God created and gifted me, my boundaries will actually benefit others.
Those boundaries will keep me out of their gifting.
It will keep me from interfering in the lessons God is trying to teach them that I with my human understanding will try to "fix".
Healthy boundaries can create the opportunity for amazing community.
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27
What happens if we each begin to recognize what our part in that body is and stop trying to the part of another? What if rather than a group of people spread thin, the church begins to develop into a group of people living from their gifting and strength? What kind of community do we begin to create? How does it change how we share God's love with the world?
What kind of chaos exists in that scenario?
Now image each state without county boundaries....
Now think of you neighbors....
What happens if you neighborhood has no boundaries?
What if those property lines did not exist?
Who is responsible or weeding what flower bed?
Who is responsible to mow what part of the lawn?
Boundaries in real life help us recognize what we are responsible for maintaining.
This applies to the scenario of your neighborhood, but also to our personal life.
Boundaries help create order.
If you think about it God starts our story with boundaries.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"
Genesis 1:1
God starts the story of all creation by defining two separate entities.
Heaven and Earth.
They have a distinct different role to play in the story that is beginning to unfold.
They have boundaries that set them apart from one another.
It is out of this story that creation continues all the way to you and I.
God created us distinctly separate.
God created us with natural physical boundaries.
The crazy thing is that God creates us with boundaries for a really good reason!
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same LORD. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work."
So here is the amazing thing that God has been showing me about boundaries.
They are there so I do not have to do it all and be all things to all people.
It is humanly impossible for me to help everyone I want to help.
And that is ok.
Boundaries are God's way of encouraging me to recognize my limits and be the best version of the person he created me to be.
When I recognize and set my boundaries from a better understanding of how God created and gifted me, my boundaries will actually benefit others.
Those boundaries will keep me out of their gifting.
It will keep me from interfering in the lessons God is trying to teach them that I with my human understanding will try to "fix".
Healthy boundaries can create the opportunity for amazing community.
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27
What happens if we each begin to recognize what our part in that body is and stop trying to the part of another? What if rather than a group of people spread thin, the church begins to develop into a group of people living from their gifting and strength? What kind of community do we begin to create? How does it change how we share God's love with the world?
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