BOUNDARIES

I played volleyball in high school. The court was very clearly defined – usually by some dark and bold color of paint. During a volleyball match, a line judge is placed an two corners of the court…the corners opposite of where a player stands to serve. The line judge is given a flag and is asked to identify a few game-changing things:

1. Did a player touch the ball before it went out of bounds?

2. Did the ball land INside of the lines marking the court?

3. Did the ball land OUTside of the lines marking the court?

Sometimes, the line judge’s job was extremely easy. The player very blatantly touched the ball, the ball very plainly landed inside the court, or the ball very plainly flew out of bounds. You could be guaranteed that if the ball landed close to the line….the arguing would begin. Apparently, when things are close, people argue as of the boundary lines should change.

Merriam-Webster defines a boundary as “something that indicates or fixes a limit or extent.” we may refer to a boundary as a border, an edge, a frame, or a margin. Whichever word you choose, there’s no doubt that a boundary line represents what is in bounds and what is out of bounds……and boundaries don’t typically move.

My friend, Mary Leach, invited me to read a devotion on the YouVersion app and it’s called “Boundaries 101.” (Check out Mary’s blog Here!) as we started on day one, these words screamed at me: “In addition to showing us what we ARE responsible for, boundaries help us to define what is NOT on our property and what we are NOT responsible for.”

As I read those words, I immediately looked down at the red rash that is still present at the base of both of my legs. Two weeks ago, I was working in the yard. Edging. Weedeating. Mowing. Cleaning up. As I began mowing, I noticed some overgrowth that was…..technically…..on my neighbor’s property, but growing up MY fence. In my mind, it would be helpful to them if I grabbed the weed eater and took care of it….and it would uncover part of the fence we recently spend a lot of money having installed. All was well when I finished and the yard looked great. That was Saturday. About 18 hours later, my legs were covered in blisters….that itched….and, quite honestly, looked horrible. I immediately had to call an audible on what I was going to wear to church and even had to change my plan for shoes because of the presence of my friend….Poison Ivy.

When we bought our home, there were stakes in the yard to show our property lines. What’s inside of those lines belongs to us….and we are responsible for taking care of it. What’s outside of those lines? Not our responsibility. Not to do ourselves. Not to tel others that it’s not being done. Our property lines – boundaries – give us clear cut direction on how to run in our lane.

Disrespecting the boundaries brought poison into my life. (Please don’t misread that as I wanted my neighbor to get it. We have roundup. 😊) All because I saw something in someone else’s boundaries that I wanted to address….and I thought it would “help” them (or just make my yard look better, truth be told) for me to do it. The result was painful.

What line judge are we looking to as the source of what’s in and what’s out?

-My preferences?

-What makes ME comfortable?

-What a certain group of people prefers? (Family, friends, political parties, media, whomever is influential in our lives at the moment)

-The unchanging Word of God?

When we allow God’s Word to truly draw the boundaries, we don’t have to challenge them. We don’t have to step outside of His design and find ourselves covered in poison ivy. We really can avoid a lot of pain when we choose to live inside the safety of His boundaries.

It’s game time! Grab your knee pads, listen for the whistle, and put the ball in play! Keep your eyes on the Line Judge….and stay inbounds.