Here's Your Box

I have learned that I like boxes. First of all, they are symmetrical, I like that. Second, they hold stuff, that's good. Third, they provide some definition and boundary to the things inside. It's that third aspect that presents a problem. While I like knowing what my boundaries are and what I have to work with, living and/or working that way can be very limiting.

For years creative types have been telling us to "think outside the box." Now, I could argue the symantics of that one. In reality, thinking outside of one box is really just thinking inside a different box. Maybe more important than saying that we should "think outside the box" (as though there were only one) we should say that we're going to think outside our box and try to figure out which other box we need to be in to move forward.

All of that aside, I had one of those meeting experiences today that forced me to get way outside the box I currently know. The real difficulty comes when we get so far outside the known box that just wrapping your brain around the ideas becomes difficult. It's one thing to say, "we're going to add this new event or change this program." But when you get to the point that you don't even know where to start trying to go toward the vision, then you're really outside your box.

I am by nature someone who likes to solve equations - whether they have numbers & variables or not - and figure out how to do things. So when I get into a brainstorming session or a vision session I have a hard time not starting to try to create some action steps toward reaching the goals. I am by nature a details guy. This is me.

In Scripture we find the disciples constantly being taken out of their box and firmly dropped into a totally new paradigm. Jesus repeatedly rocked their view of the world and of God. One story that comes to mind is when a Gentile woman comes and falls at Jesus' feet to beg for healing for her daughter who was afflicted by a demon. The disciples want Jesus to send her away and at first it appears he might, but Jesus is only testing the woman and his disciples. She passes with flying colors, persisting in her request despite the resistance of the disciples and Jesus' initial comments that indicate he may not help her. The disciples fail miserably. They wanted her sent away because she was an outcast in their religious culture (Gentiles were unclean, Gentile women even more unclean). They thought they had God all figured out, then came Jesus.

Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking I have life or God figured out and then comes something that blows my mind and forces me to reshape my understanding of who God is and what life may look like in the future. Today the challenge was to not limit the scope of what God can do. Tomorrow perhaps it will be something else. Whatever it is, I think it's safe to say that I'll only inhabit my current box temporarily.