As parents we spend a lot of time setting boundaries. The advent of tablets, computer games, cell phones, etc have made in my opinion parenting much more difficult. It was enough when my children grew up to limit their TV time, the boundaries beyond which they could’t cross or ride their bike, and the hours they had to be home. Today, the challenges brought on by devices that are supposed to make our life simpler have only made them much more complex.
But fortunately I am not a parent who needs to place boundaries on my children no matter how many times I might want to intervene or give them my wisdom. My job these days is to keep quiet and spoil the grandchildren. The latter for which my children wish they could set a few boundaries on me.
But like me, most of my readers are beyond setting boundaries for other’s lives, but we are not too old to set a few boundaries for ourselves. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and being prudent with one’s money are a few boundaries I hear about daily on the Internet and on TV. But what about spiritual boundaries?
In monasteries and in orders monks have rules to live by. When I was on sabbatical we had a whole set of boundaries imposed on every aspect of our lives from when we were to get up to when we were to go to bed. It sounds like a miserable existence but if one stayed within those boundaries life was very simple and uncomplicated. The laws of this nation to some extent are boundaries. In Richard Bolt’s, A Man For All Seasons, Sir Thomas More says, “The law is not a light for you or any man to see by, the law is not an instrument of any kind. The law is a causeway upon which so long as he keeps it, a citizen may walk safely.”
I leave you with this thought that I have been considering. — Do I need at this time of my life to set a few boundaries on my life? After seventy years, am I capable of staying within boundaries if I am the one who establishes them? God and the teaching of Jesus can be my guideposts and outer limits, but what lines should I establish for myself? It’s worth a few hours and days I think? What do you think?
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