Good Morning…
“God designed a world where we all live ‘within’ our selves; that is, we inhabit our own souls, and we are responsible for the things that make up ‘us,’” say the authors of our Boundaries book on page 32. “The heart knows its own bitterness and no one shares its joy (Proverbs 14:10). We have to deal with what is in our soul, and boundaries help us to define what this is.”
Proverbs 4:23 (ASV) pops into my mind. Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. The issues of life, the good and the bad, come from how diligently we tend to our heart.
On page 33, Cloud and Townsend continue: “Boundaries help us to distinguish our property so that we can take care of it. They help us to “guard our heart with diligence.” We need to keep things that will nurture us inside our fences and keep things that will harm us outside. In short, boundaries help us keep the good in and the bad out. (Matthew 7:6 says it this way: Don’t give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don’t throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them.) Boundaries “guard our treasures” so that people will not steal them. They keep the pearls inside, and the pigs outside.”
The fence around the garden of our heart is designed with a gate. Opening our gate and sharing honestly with God and our most trusted friends helps to release our pain (1 John 1:9; James 5:16; Mark 7:21-23). Our authors continue: “And when the good is on the outside, we need to open our gates and ‘let it in.’ Jesus speaks of this phenomenon in ‘receiving’ him and his truth (Rev. 3:20; John 1:12). Other people have good things to give us, and we need to ‘open to them’ (2 Corinthians 6:11-13). Often we will close our boundaries to good things from others, staying in a state of deprivation.” (Boundaries, 34)
My toilet paper dilemma from last week is a perfect example. When our family got down to our very last roll, I could have turned down the generosity of my toilet paper angel, “No. Empty rolls are a personal knapsack issue. I am responsible for buying my family’s toilet paper.” When special surprises arise, we are wise to open our garden gate to receive with gratitude God’s good, gracious gifts.
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes] (James 1:17, AMP).
…Sue…
