Boundaries

It was a crazy week last week. The verdict is still out whether I am suffering the ill effects of eating a tiny amount of spoiled yogurt or managed to pick up the stomach bug that is making its rounds in our community. Either way I've been eating cautiously for several days.

I am glad I got the opportunity to attend a stop on the Good Boundaries and Goodbyes Book Tour last evening. I enjoy Lysa's writing style, and hearing her speak in person was good too. 

I think one reason I connected with this particular book of hers is because it gave me permission to walk away from destructive relationships. It always felt to me like, as a Christian, I have to fight for my relationships and never give up. Particularly in church life. But maybe, just maybe, sometimes it's okay to take a break or to walk away in certain situations. That it's okay to put up boundaries. Some really good stuff there that makes a lot of sense to me at this time of my life. 

It seems like most novels that I've read in recent years all have a common thread- the main characters get themselves into all sorts of problems because they refuse to have a simple, honest conversation. A couple chapters in I want to shake someone for being so dense! Just spit it out, SAY IT. Save yourself a whole book's worth of trouble. But the reality is that I'm not very good at having honest conversations or setting boundaries myself. I either open my big mouth, calling it like I see it, and offending the other person or I skirt around the issue like the fiction characters I disdain, feeling annoyed but accomplishing nothing. Learning how to set boundaries in a healthy way is still very much a work in progress for me.