Sometimes we live too up-close to people. We hang on the bumper of our loved ones, directing. We hang on the bumper of our enemies, raging. Enmeshed, we try to fix, save, change each other. Tailgating, we engender co-dependency, an intensely emotional form of loving and hating.
Given a slight break in life’s bumper to bumper traffic, a truck with two posted signs pulls in front of me. “CAUTION: STAY 100 FEET BACK” and “IF YOU CAN’T SEE MY MIRRORS, I CAN’T SEE YOU.”
In tangible ways God warns us, “Slow down. Hang back. Let Me fill the space between you and each loved one, between you and each enemy.”
Staying 100 feet back from people, those we love and those we hate, we give God space to buffer, to filter, to transform our interactions. Traveling with a safe boundary between ourselves and others, we talk back and forth with God as we journey down life’s curvy road.
“LORD, You are my hiding place! You protect me from trouble, and you put songs in my heart because you have saved me.”
In response, You said to me, “I will point out the road that you should follow. I will be your teacher and watch over you” (Psalm 32:7-8, CEV).
