The winds pick up speed, and the waves rise taller. They fall, colliding with the unsettled sea. Approaching the shore, each rush of water reaches farther than the last until it happens: the ocean breaks past its border. Devastation. Wreckage. A boundary was crossed.
Humanity has a lot to learn from nature. This is a lesson we can easily comprehend when we see the effects of a hurricane, but when devastation invades our lives, we often don’t understand. Boundaries take away our freedom, right? They take away our pleasure, leaving us feeling depressed, bored, and in pain, don’t they?
Let me take the focus off of ourselves and ask this: is the ocean boring? Or depressing? Is it any less beautiful when it is held back by the boundary of the shore? Of course not! Instead, it is infused with life, beauty, and power. In fact, it isn’t until it goes outside its boundaries that it becomes ugly, even scary.
A boundary is not a line set in place that suppresses you (Tweet This!), cramming you into a smaller space as it takes away your freedom of expression. It is a line, naturally formed, at the appropriate place where your healthy expression lands after you let it out. The ocean wasn’t forced behind the line of sand – the sand was made by the ocean, leaving a clear distinction between land and sea.
This means that our boundaries are actually the places we don’t want to go. If we seek our fulfillment by crossing over the lines, eventually we will see the destruction it brings.
The reason we are more fulfilled within our boundaries is because our boundaries were made for us – tailored to each of us and revealing (after time) a visible line made where our healthy meets our unhealthy. Where our peace becomes chaos.
One more point to keep in mind when thinking about boundaries: sometimes we don’t know where they are. The visible lines usually don’t form in a day, so it is a good practice to allow yourself to soak in some wisdom from others who may have some lines you can learn from.
This is wisdom speaking in Proverbs 8:29-30, “I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth’s foundations, I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence.” (NLT)
Flow within your boundaries and shock the world with your beauty.
Looking at the Ocean and Seeing a Healthy Boundary by XXXchurch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.