The Shadow Of My Porch Swing - Part 4Sample

Boundary Benefits

If there is one thing that will bring on immediate eye rolling in our house it’s a saying I repeat almost daily. 

When you are somewhere you are not supposed to be, doing something you are not supposed to be doing, or with someone you are not supposed to be with, then you will get a consequence you are not supposed to have.

Usually every major issue in our house can be boiled down to one of those scenarios. Even today, we have a black fingernail and sad child from playing around with slamming doors. It took everything in me to not say ‘I told you so.’

That specific saying may have come from my mouth but I am most definitely not the author of that truth nor is our family the first to experience it. Almost every tragic Bible story from Adam to Jesus has a main character involved in the ‘not supposed tos.’ While reading the story of David and Bathsheba the other day, I stopped and actually gasped out loud. There on the page in front of me I saw it: a man somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be (at home instead of war), doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing (enjoying the scenery), with someone he wasn’t supposed to be with (someone else’s wife) and the consequences were great. Not just for him but for many others. He lied, made others lie for him, murdered a mother’s son, made a wife a widow, betrayed his friend, disgraced the Lord’s name, and ultimately grieved his son’s birth and subsequent death. 

Oh what meaning it brings to David’s admission in Psalm 16 when he cries out that ‘The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.’ King David had learned firsthand that just as Jerusalem was safeguarded from the enemy by high walls, his own life was also kept safe within the Lord’s boundary lines.

As parents, we pray to raise boys that will grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and others. Part of gaining wisdom is understanding cause and effect. Sometimes it gets tricky in this sinful world because good choices don’t always get the good consequence, however rest assured that bad choices almost always have a bad consequence, often far beyond the scope we envision.

So for now, I continue to recite this truth daily to our boys while our stakes are low. Smashed fingers heal much quicker than shattered hearts and families. As we rapidly approach emotional teenage decision-making and increased eye rolling, I pray God’s truth and my voice are a constant nag to be where and with and doing what they are supposed to. It is a joy to live within the boundary. It offers true freedom for your soul.

Remember a time where you wanted to fight against a safe boundary in your life. What was the outcome? 

Father, you are my protector and provider. I know that when I step outside of your plan that I open myself up for attack. My sinful nature loves to rebel and says freedom comes without restraint. I reject that lie. Teach my heart to trust that true freedom is found within your secure and loving boundaries.