Sunday, March 15, 2009

Walls

"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. Your walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49:16

Sitting outside this Sunday morning writing in my journal about fears over my Mom’s condition. The sun shone warmly in the backyard as I sat in a chair on the grass facing into the yard. Several times some birds flew rather low over me and on into the yard behind. They flew at a diagonal, crossing Mom’s yard, the yard behind and on into the yard next to that. As I watched them fly over our yards, in my mind I glimpsed an aerial view. Here we are with our rectangles of land sectioned off by dividing walls. They fly freely over our boundaries, over and through our defined spaces.

Often, boundary walls make me feel safe. They legitimately serve this purpose. They keep danger out. They keep privacy in. Sitting there in my little box of a yard seeing the birds flying unrestricted, the walls of this yard took on the faint resemblance to a cage.

Speaking of the personal life of the soul and spirit, it takes wisdom to know what are truly dangers to be kept out. I’ve tended to get those mixed up in my life, believing some things to be dangers that are not and thus creating walls that cage me rather than protect me. It takes wisdom to not build walls to keep out that which is good though not risk free. It takes wisdom and courage to not build walls that are actually cages. It takes trusting God to build and place the walls - protective walls - around me. Only He can build a protection that is not a cage.


( I call this part of the yard The Four Corners, even though the four corners are offset a bit and don't actually meet. )

"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. Your walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49:16

1 comment:

  1. LOVE this! Walls instead of cages... you should create something with that theme. Great lesson.

    ReplyDelete