Home Tools for your Journey April 13

Sunday, April 13

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
—Matthew 24:43

If we're not on the lookout for what is robbing us of life, we are likely to find ourselves at the mercy of every insidious intruder. Staying awake in this sense means establishing, keeping, and honoring boundaries. When we slink through our days and nights in a miasma of sleepiness, our boundaries become so soft that we are easy prey for everything and everyone that needs attention. We cease to be wise stewards of the unique individual humanity that we have been given.

It's not that we can't have soft edges, but when we have no edges at all, our unique individual self can become so indistinct, so watery, so dispersed that we no longer have the ability to give focus and energy to being all that we have been made to be.

Think about your life. Who are the prowlers that threaten to steal your energy, your enthusiasm? What are the silent pickpockets that are cleverly robbing your self-awareness as if it were a wallet sticking out of your jacket? Where are the thieves that lurk around the seams of your busy life waiting to filch your hope, your love, your creativity, your curiosity, your potential? What are the boundaries that define your uniqueness and how can you protect those boundaries and still offer hospitality to the world?

When God formed you in the womb of darkness it was for the living of life. While guarding that gift of life can be an arduous work, it is a work fully worthy of our wakeful attention.

O God, let the guarding of my "house" be my gift of thanks to you for the life you have given me.

The Signposts for April are written by Renée Miller and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in May 2004.