This post kind of coincides with my previous post: Jumping Through Hoops. It addresses the question that if God wants us to be free through Him, then why does he give us a bunch of rules to follow? Well, I have figured out another, more relevant answer to this question. You've probably heard it more times than you'd care to, but I would like to go in depth about it. The answer is: boundaries are not meant to hurt you, they are to protect and help you.
A father watches as his son plays with a kickball on the front lawn. As a constant reminder to the child, the father progressively says "Don't get too close to the street, son!" The boy laughs and nods. "I know, Daddy!" He continues to play with the ball, throwing it as high as he can and running beneath it to catch it. Suddenly he misses the catch and the ball bounces into the middle of the street. The child runs towards the curb to retrieve the ball, failing to look both ways. His one concern, in his young age, was to get his ball back. The father sees his son embarking on this mini journey and shouts "Son, get out of the street!" He jumps off the front steps and takes off like a bullet as fast as he can to get to his child. The son bends down to pick up the ball and turns around to smile at his father. "Daddy, I got it!" Out of what seemed like nowhere a truck was speeding down the street and hit the child. He was killed instantly.
The father didn't tell his son to stay out of the street to prevent him from having fun; he told him to stay out of the street so that he would not get hurt, or in this unfortunate case, killed.
"Mom, I want to have sex with Justin," a Amy says to her mother.
"Honey, you know that you shouldn't have sex until you are married." You could hear the heartache in her voice. They continued to argue for twenty minutes before the daughter finally agreed that it was best to wait and retired to her room.
That weekend the young girl was at her boyfriend's house for what her mother believed to be a movie date, but the reality was entirely different. Justin's parents were gone for the weekend and they were planning to have sex. They figured that by using a condom it was alright. The last thing they expected, however, was for the condom to break. This went unrealized by both of them until a couple weeks later.
Amy begins experiencing cases of morning sickness and misses her next period. She asks Justin to buy her a pregnancy test so that she can take it at his place without her parents discovering. It came back positive.
Nine months later Amy has a beautiful baby girl; Lydia. Justin denies the baby and argues that it couldn't be his. He spends his nights at football practice instead of helping Amy taking care of his daughter. Amy has dropped out of high school and is having trouble finding a job to support her newest addition to the family. Her mother has picked up a second shift at her company to help accommodate for the baby's needs.
Amy's mother didn't want to stop her daughter from experiencing something beautiful. She wanted her to wait until she was married, which sex is intended for, and until she was ready to take on the responsibilities that come with parenting. She also wanted to protect her from sexually transmitted diseases that could have killed her and her baby.
Boundaries are meant to help us have a more fulfilling life, not a boring one. We don't say no to drugs because we are a wimp, we say no because we don't want to become dependent on something that can destroy our lives. We don't refuse to drink because we are a stick in the mud, we refuse to drink because we are refusing the damages alcohol does to the body and the stupid things it causes us to say and do.
Boundaries have nothing to do with sucking the fun out of life, but rather ensuring you have the best kind of fun you can have without any unnecessary destruction or obstacles, including being a teen parent or a drug addict.
They are to protect you, not hinder you.
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