Healthy Boundaries

Written by: Erica Sawyer January 5, 2020

We have horses and dogs at the ranch. We also live next to a roadway manned by the county, which means police do not patrol it. I think certain people know this and intentionally speed 100 miles per hour down it. Their revving engines and crazy speed is scary, their reckless behavior could easily kill one of our animals, instantly.

It would be tedious, no let’s be real, it would be impossible for me to patrol the road myself to stop the motorized-vehicle shenanigans–in order to protect my animals. It would require me to be up all hours of the night since it often occurs then. I would never be able to leave the house. I can’t do that.

But what I can do is put up a healthy boundary. I can put up a fence intended to keep my animals confined to the safety of our property.

The fence is not intended to restrict their behavior, but quite the contrary. It is intended to allow ultimate freedom without worry of harm. The horses can run and buck, graze and snooze without worry of danger from he road.

Just like a fence is intended to keep a horse safe, so he can roam freely without running into the danger, so it is with God’s fences. The boundaries God sets for us are intended to give us a safe place to have ultimate freedom to live in, not keep us confined.

“On the other side of that fence is danger, so stay on this side,” Jesus warns. There is joy and comfort in knowing that I am cared for in such a personal way that Jesus sets boundaries intended to propel me into the best trajectory for my life. Those boundaries are not intended to restrict, but to protect.

My horses have no idea what is on the other side of the fence and most of the time they don’t care either. So long as they can graze and roam freely on their own without restriction and without fear from being harmed, they are happy as can be.

Psalm 16:5-9 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.