Where are the Boundaries for You?

18 September 2012

Remember the boundary lines in gym when they would teach us a new sport?  Dodge ball, baseball, football, basketball, hockey and they all had boundaries.  These lines help us learn an understanding for how we play together.  We don't automatically know them at the first practice.  It takes time, practice and discipline when learning boundaries.  Sometimes we are willing to cross those boundary lines.  In fact, sometimes we NEED to cross the lines at times when it comes to countering injustices and inequities in the world.

Emotionally, boundaries let us know when someone is crossing too far inside or too far outside our space.  Intellectually and and socially we have the laws of the land.  These laws are what we agree to when we live in community.  In college we called them the SPICES of life...social, physical, intellectual, chemical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of each life.

Boundaries can also be very confusing.  Today I found out I accidentally crossed an intellectual boundary with the original blogspot name... so, I apologized, changed the name to the address you see now, and learned through the process.  My public vocation as a pastor makes it difficult and confusing at times to distinguish a public and private life.  Things I would normally keep private are public knowledge due to the nature of the community.  (I sometimes laugh and say our church secretary has GPS on us... not too far off!!)  Yet, we are family.  In fact, in the Christian church we are named brothers and sisters when we are baptized into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Discovering boundaries behind anger (which is a secondary emotion preventing exposure to our heart's true emotion behind that protective wall... usually something like hurt or embarrassment.  Anger also helps us learn about our boundary that has been invaded or evaded.  Someone has come too close to us or someone has been too distant from us.

I invite you to think about your boundaries in your SPICES of life.  What helps you maintain health and wholeness?  In fact, what brings healing?  (And did you realize that healing is the base word for salvation?)  I am learning about boundaries through this healing time.  I am learning physical limits daily, chemical limits for what pills I am willing to take or not take, stimulating my intellectual side by learning new skills and reading a variety of books.  You've allowed me a way to share socially.  I connect with friends emotionally.  For me, all of life is spiritual.

This boundary process continues throughout our lives.  Where are the boundaries for you?