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Fences Can Hold You In Or Show You Where The Other Side Begins
Fences are one of my favorite metaphors.
They definitely have different purposes for different people.
For me a fence needs to be respected when put up to keep you out of someone else’s property.
But there are also fences that show you, if crossed, how much freedom is out there.
Years ago I had a dream that I was on a huge piece of land surrounded by a white fence.
In the middle were hundreds of people, huddled together, refusing to venture to the outside near the outer perimeter of the fence.
There were pockets of people near the edge but the main crowd stayed glued to the center of the field.
In the dream I heard God say: “Rick, there is no fence, they made it up.”
“What I said?”
God said “Go closer, touch it and see, I’m telling you there is no fence.”
As I got close to the fence the “huddlers” in the middle screamed and yelled at me warning of the dangers outside the fence.
When I touched the fence it disappeared.
It was wide open land as far as the eye could see.
The manmade barrier was an illusion created by fear, created by people in the middle who were afraid to leave.s
But here is a key point, they still saw the fence.
Yeh, it wasn’t there but they were convinced they were doing the right thing and for them, most of them, it probably was right.
A friend of mine wrote this today on his social media page.
“Why is it that the rougher the road the more pleasant the crowd? I have lived my entire life on the Interstate 5 corridor and rarely, if ever, deviate far from it. Like an old house deteriorating in front of the resident, sometimes subtle changes are missed to those closest. Its that moment you step away and come back when you realize, shit has gotten bad.” Shawn Litson
Not everyone is meant to leave the center.
But at the same time not everyone see’s the fence.
The only way to understand your place is to connect with the one who created you.
I think being stuck is the worst feeling ever.
Kathy and I felt stuck for many years in our home in Oregon.
Everything was tied to that place and digging up our roots was painful, scary, and left us feeling insecure.
I now thank God for the way Oregon handled the pandemic. Oh, not because I think it was handled properly, but because seeing the fear gave us the courage to leave. We were more afraid to stay and live in that manmade fence/fear than to uproot our lives and head east.
Life has a way, if we partner with the one who understands us (the creator) to move us along.
But you have to be willing to leave.
That could mean leaving a bad job, a bad relationship or anything really.
Leave.
Roll that word around on your tongue, doesn’t that feel good?
Step over the fence, yes the barbed wire will cut you, but you will heal and become the pioneer God made you to be.
