Extend Your Boundaries

Jesus of Nazareth had no concept of boundaries.  He was a man of great risk. I laugh when I think of the times that his disciple, Peter, tried to teach Jesus the concept of risk management.  Where are your boundaries?

We learn boundaries at a very young age.  The culture seems to teach our children who is "in" and who is "out".  Kids can be pretty cruel to those who do not fit in the boundaries.  They are also cruel to those who risk reaching out to those who are seen as out of bounds.

The business world then creates the same boundaries.  Many times it is a "You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Your Back World."  There are economic boundaries that determine who a person hangs out with.  There are social boundaries or moral boundaries that alienate us from those who need friends.

Personal boundaries can also be more powerful than we imagine.   We want to stay safe.  Our memory reminds us on a conscious and unconscious level of all the heartbreaking incidents in our life.   Our imagination can convince us of a world that is nowhere near reality.

Jesus of Nazareth had no boundaries when it came to love.  He love the sinners, the prostitutes, the outcasts, the lepers, the hungry, the lonely and the list goes on.  Jesus would not allow the world to stop him from reaching out.  

I wonder if that is not the calling that you and I have today.  Is the stranger just a friend I have not made yet?  Is those who are lonely and fearful of this life our brothers and sisters?   Is there a greater calling for us than risk management?

Dewitt Jones is a well known photographer for the National Geographic magazine.  His photographs have captured the beauty of the world in ways that are hard to describe.  He tells of trying to capture a particular picture in a place where there were fences that blocked him from where the picture needed to be taken from.  As he struggles to get to the place for the picture to be taken, he makes an interesting observation.  "It is not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries!"

Perhaps most of life's boundaries that keep us from being faithful in our witness are self imposed.  Maybe this is the invitation for us to extend our boundaries.