Pleasant Boundaries

I don't like it when God places limits on my life. He does it often, and each time, I find my self chafing against the restraints rather than embracing my limitations and the spaces that God has defined for me.

When my fibromyalgia flares up, I don't relish the rest. Instead, I resent the weakness. When I can't drop everything and go to a friend in need, I tend to focus on my inability to do anything for them rather than looking for ways to serve the people in my vicinity. When my life doesn't go the way I'd like or doesn't move as quickly as I'd prefer, I get impatient for the future and what might be rather than enjoying the present as it is.

The Psalmist proposed a different way of looking at these things when he said, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." When I look at the boundary lines in my life, I see them as barriers that hold me in, but what if they aren't trapping me? What if they are teaching me? What if they are sheltering me? I think God places boundaries in our lives to prepare us and to protect us. The boundaries train us and encourage us to focus on His provision and faithfulness. The boundaries keep us in, but they also keep other things out.

Without these boundaries I would rush into things, whether I was ready or not. I would run around, encountering all sorts of valueless things. I would find it even harder to manage my time, to figure out what I should devote my attention to. In short, I'd be a mess.

Today, I am looking at the boundaries in my life and calling them pleasant. I am looking to God and examining my life and looking for opportunities to grow where I am. I am looking for the things that God is teaching me here, rather than trying to figure out where He is taking me next. 

Do you find your boundaries pleasant?

Today's Verses

Psalm 16: 5-6

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.