The border

Take a look at this picture. (If you double click on it, you can see a larger version.) A friend of mine took it when we were in the UK. We were standing in England looking into Scotland. The fence that you see is what marked the border between the two countries. That's it. Just a few posts and some wire.

Now, look at the grass. It is exactly the same on this side of the fence as it is on the other side of the fence. What!? England is exactly the same as Scotland! Well, not exactly...but right there, where that fence is, it sure looks the same. The weather is the same. The soil is the same. The grass is the same. But if you are standing beside that fence and you take a step, just one step, across that line, you are in a different country.

If you have ever been to Scotland, you know that the farther north you go the more the topography changes. When you are standing at the border, doesn't seem very different from England. However, when you are standing in the Highlands, it is easy to recognize that you are no longer in England. The thing is, you have to keep driving in order to see the dramatic differences between the two places.

So...my wife and I are currently in the process of figuring out what we want our lives to look like, what we want our family to be. We want to be intentional about how we spend our time and the direction we go with our children. Anyone who has done this understands, very well, that this is not an especially easy thing to do, the details of which, are an entirely different conversation! There are several, maybe many, aspects of life that all of this applies to, not the least of which is a spiritual agenda.

Tell me if you can relate to this: You figure out that you need to make a change. You want to make a change. Maybe God is leaning on you and wants you to become something that you are not. Maybe it is as simple as, I don't know, say doing the dishes after every meal rather than only once a week. (If the truth were told, I don't believe that you can actually separate what God wants you to be from all of the other "simple" things in your life. But, again, a different conversation.) You have made the decision to change. Now, a particular few times, all of a sudden, everything seems different. However, I don't think that is the norm. Usually, you take a step and you are disappointed to find that you feel exactly the same as you did before you took the step.

Right, so back to Scotland. You have to drive quite a ways to get England out of your rear-view mirror. But pretty soon, often without even recognizing it, you realize that you are no longer where you were when you crossed the border. Things are different. If you keep driving, everything is different. Everything has changed. Even so, you would hard pressed to define exactly where the change occurred. Almost always, though, the change did not happen at the border, just the other side of the fence.

Same is true in every other aspect of your life. Maybe the first step, or six, don't feel like they have moved you very far. The reality is, they probably haven't! Sometimes you have to go quite a ways before you see that things are different. Keep walking...keep driving...keep moving. Believe that you are in a different place. Eventually, but probably not as soon as you would like, things will begin to look different. The weather will change. The soil will be different.

Don't stop at the border.

Photo by Charles Cairncross