Barriers.....

Barrier.....

A structure, such as a fence, built to bar passage.

Something immaterial that obstructs or impedes.

A boundary or limit.

Something that separates or holds apart.

I hate barriers.

So why do I make them, eh?? And why do some find me?

---My OCD is a barrier to some, who simply can't get past its effects to understand me, though, thankfully, it's been few.

---My Christian beliefs are barriers, which I don't like, but, the barriers are not going anywhere, because the absolute truth of Christ, well, it's absolute.

---Plain scared. That was the barrier keeping me from expressing my feelings for my first love some 25 years ago.

---Inability to talk and confess real feelings. Funny how that happening in one 45 minute conversation changes your entire life.

---Some are good indirectly! I talked to thousands of people a day on the radio for nine years and loved every moment. But I didn't see them, nor they me. The lack of a video signal was a barrier, of sorts. The best part of me got out, though, because I do have a face for radio!

---When you're the pastor, you aren't supposed to have "friends" at church. So, I didn't completely allow that barrier complete control. :)

---Today?

A) My world revolves around an 8-mile orbit. Home to work, work to home. So, if they don't work with me or live with me, I probably don't see them.

B) So, for example, a circle of friends at a church is forthcoming, but scary to find, even with God's leading. It's been a long time since I took off to this adventure.

C) Thank God for no barriers at home. The six of us (cats included) are well, except the barrier of lack of time together.

D) America's favorite office today? The cubicle. It can also be a barrier. That's why, day by day, I must do my part to follow the edict posted on my cubicle wall from one of my favorites, the Apostle Paul, from Philippians 2:3.....

Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.

The more I think of them (one specifically) and not me, God will make the corner feel a lot bigger (feeling bigger matters, not its physical size), and will help me look at what's in front of me at work as just a movable wall.

....and will help me look at what's in front of me for what's left of my life, and see it as the adventure I once reveled in living in....

....as opposed to my downward spiral of apathy that is now in its fourth year.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

What barriers do you have? Did you make them? Did others build them around you? Either way, make a deal with me. I'll try to work on letting my barriers go the way of Berlin Wall, if you'll do the same.