Set boundaries for the fun stuff too
June 24 - June 28, 2024 | Always Peachy Devotionals | Habits Week 4
Setting boundaries is only for the things that exhaust us, right?
That’s what I thought when I first began my journey of learning about mental and emotional health as a Christ-follower. I had always believed that setting boundaries was for the difficult things in life. The challenging projects that required a lot of brain power. The “work” elements of life where you have to focus more than normal or exert yourself more than normal. It makes perfect sense to need a rest from those things.
We don’t think about making space to rest from the things we love doing. After all, if we love what we’re doing, we shouldn’t need to rest from it, right?
Have you heard of this little thing called “burnout”? It affects all of us in some way or another, and we all struggle with it eventually. The thing I’ve learned about burnout is that it isn’t restricted to the things we don’t enjoy doing. Quite the opposite, we usually experience burnout in relation to the things we love doing.
Why?
Because we haven’t set boundaries around the good things in our lives.
Do you love reading? Wonderful. But don’t try to read all the time. You’ll grow weary of it, and it will no longer be something you enjoy.
Do you love cooking or baking? Awesome! But don’t do it all the time with no breaks and no rest, or it will become like any other pursuit in your life. And that’s true of any creative career path. No matter how much you love it, no matter how refreshing it feels to you in the moment, if you don’t take steps to set boundaries around it, you’ll burn out.
Boundaries aren’t just for “challenging” things; they’re for happy things and exciting things and refreshing things too.
The trouble with boundaries, though, is that they don’t establish themselves. And what’s more, they don’t solidify overnight. Boundaries take discipline and time, but the best thing you can do for yourself when you are constructing your boundaries is to integrate holy, healthy habits into your life.
So far this month, we’ve talked about habits in relation to our health. We’ve talked about making time for God, about making intentional space to take care of yourself, and about living without chaos. This week we’re going to look at the connection between habits and boundaries and how we can live an abundant life within those boundaries.
Jun 24 – Good things in excess become bad things (Proverbs 25:27)
Jun 25 – The difference between Can and Should (1 Corinthians 10:23)
Jun 26 – All play and no work lead to ruin (Proverbs 14:23)
Jun 27 – Doing what you know will hurt you (Daniel 1:8-9)
Jun 28 – Instant gratification doesn’t last (Proverbs 16:32)
Setting boundaries is always difficult because it requires us to say no to our natural desires. There’s even a verse in Hebrews (Hebrews 12:11) that talks about how no discipline is fun while we’re in the middle of it, but the benefit of discipline is long-lasting. Discipline, and by extension boundaries, are a long game. You have to invest a little bit over long periods of time to establish the mindset you need to face all that life and the enemy is going to throw at you.
God doesn’t let us step out onto the battlefield until we’re ready. We have to be trained in how to respond in situations where the enemy tries to distract us from the assignment God has given us. That means experiencing some heartbreak and disappointment and loss before God sends us on the path He’s laid out for us.
If we can’t manage our health and our focus before our journey has even truly started, I’m not sure we’re going to get very far when we are squarely in the enemy’s crosshairs.
This is one reason God gave us the Holy Spirit. Trying to live a godly life in this dark, broken world is impossible without God’s power in our lives. God knew we’d need help and encouragement and comfort along the way. So for our memory verse this week, I thought 2 Timothy 1:7 would be a really awesome reminder.
Fear is everywhere around us, and giving in to fear feels natural. That’s because it is. Fear is our natural state. We can’t control our lives. We can’t really even control ourselves. And when we lack control, the instinctual response is fear.
But that’s not the Spirit God gave us when He gave us Himself. There is no fear in God. At all. He is love—real true Love. So when you experience fear, you can know 100% that it’s not coming from God. He doesn’t operate that way. He doesn’t make you afraid, and He doesn’t want you to make choices out of fear.
Just like in this week’s study. We’re not setting boundaries because we’re afraid that we won’t have the focus we need. We aren’t going to put healthy habits in place because we’re scared God will punish us if we don’t. No. We’re doing this because God has shown us how to live, and we want to be obedient because we love Him. And we love Him because He loved us first.
If you know Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. That means you have extraordinary, supernatural power in your life that allows you to do impossible things—like saying no. You just can’t do it in your own strength.
Guess what? You’re not supposed to.
So, let’s take an intentional look at our lives, not just the hard things but the good things too. Remember, you don’t have to do it alone.
Praying for you!
Amy
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