modern day samaritan woman: Staying in Your Own Lane

Reading the latest Torah Portions, boundaries and consequences kept popping into my mind. Father blessed His children with the Law of Moses or Torah, the Father's Love Language.

He set forth perimeters, guidelines, and instructions. Boundaries, if you will.

If you are anything like me, you also struggle with boundaries. Understanding or knowing how to set a boundary can be confusing, especially if you have never had it role-modeled as a child. Without personal boundaries, I allowed others to step over me, step on me, and talk over me.

Let's explore boundaries a bit more this week. Beginning with the question, what is a boundary? A simple definition of a boundary, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Something that indicates or fixes a limit or extent.

Those two trees mark the boundary of our property.

The mountain range that forms the country's northern boundary synonyms bound, ceiling, limit, end, cap, line, extent, limitation, termination

Staying in your own lane prevents confusion, chaos, and control. Boundaries define us. They define what is me and what is not me.

A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership. —Drs. Cloud and Townsend.

Even Yeshua practiced healthy self-care

Did you know that Yeshua set boundaries to protect from burnout? So, if He needed to slip away for some "Me time," how much more do we need to slip away for quiet time with the Father, with ourselves?

Busyness can be a difficult hurdle to overcome! People press us for many reasons; busy moms have difficulty carving out precious quiet moments to care for their own needs. He gets that. He had to say no to those clambering for His time and energy. He set an example.

Matthew 14:22 And at once, he compelled his disciples to embark on the ship and to go before him to the other side while he sent the crowds away. 23And when he had sent the crowds away, he went up to a mountain alone to pray and when it was dark he was there alone.

Sometimes the answer is no; sometimes it is wait, and sometimes yes to you and no to me. It takes wisdom and practice to set healthy boundaries.