I’m reading a chapter about boundaries. Yuck is my immediate reaction when talking about boundaries. Boundaries feel mean but I know it’s something I struggle with.
But last night I found some new phrases around boundaries that helped me and maybe they’ll help you.
- Boundaries help us be our true selves.
- Boundaries create space for us to discover what we desire, what we feel, and what we need.
I’m use to running around meeting everyones needs and then getting really frustrated when others don’t meet my needs, but most of the time I don’t even know what my needs are. Boundaries help us know where we begin and end and where someone else begins. They help us hold onto ourselves when circumstances become difficult.
What happens when we make room for ourselves?
Mirriam Webster defines discover as “to obtain sight or knowledge for the first time.”
As we come to Christ and sit with Him we can learn He saved us so we can be ourselves with Him-free of guilt and shame, knowing we are loved, completely as is. And He is there to love us just as we are and heals the parts of us that feel broken and shattered so we can be our true selves. Because “the broken things about us are not the truest thing about us (Aundi Kolber “Try Softer”).”
Sometimes it’s hard to get quiet. It is difficult to carve this time out especially if you are at work and it’s noisy, or at home and your kiddos are running around, or if you are trying to do virtual school. But remember Jesus is in you, we don’t have to go far to hear Him. And really it just takes a whisper “What do you have for me right here Lord?”
Oh He is faithful.
And maybe an easy first boundary is “I need time to think about that.”
Let’s make room to discover who we are. We don’t have to be afraid, we are loved and accepted.
