Boundaries are a reality. How do we live with them?
I grew up believing boundaries were in place for my safety, for my safety, for my good.
The year I turned 29, life took an unexpected turn. I found myself facing situations I never knew were possible. I struggled to accept the things that were happening to me as a result of illness, serious surgery, a long recovery and learning to live with the consequences that followed.
The boundary lines suddenly seemed to rush inwards, tightening my space.
Ten years later, almost to the day, I once again found myself in that very same place I had struggled through earlier. More invasive surgery, more complications, and more surprises that led to more unpleasant consequences: constant pain, poor sleep, constant exhaustion.
The boundary lines were now forcing life-changes.
After many visits to many specialists, innumerable medical tests, time spent waiting for test results… the verdict was clear. While medical advances are happening faster than ever before, in my case, there was nothing that could be done. I was going to have to find ways to manage the pain as best as possible.
The boundary lines began feeling more and more like a noose around my neck as life-as-I-knew-and-loved-it began to change drastically.
Then it happened. As I searched within what I saw as ‘restricted’ space, I began to understand. God’s boundary lines for me are always in pleasant places.
Within my boundary lines, I am where I am meant to be for this season.
And in believing that, I find myself anchored as I walk in new freedom and thrive!
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
—Psalm 16:6 (NIV)
“The beauty of a limp is that it slows you down, it forces you to take more time, it prevents you from doing as much as you’d like to do. The paradox of death leading to life requires that you disappoint many to please One. It requires you to say no much more than you say yes. It invites quiet at a far deeper level to help you discern what noise you can most wisely and profitably enter.”
-Dan Allender (Leading with a Limp)
~shini abraham, ©2014, duco divina – contemplative doodling
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