Boundaries – does this word invoke a sense of restriction?

Why are “boundaries” included in one of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom? 

Structure and Order

“Boundaries” is an intrinsic result of “structure” and “order”. 

The earth started out “formless and empty”. Genesis 1:2

Here, there was no structure, no order, no hierarchy, no rules, and absolutely no beautiful garden nor civilisation.

“And God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God caused there to be a separation between the light and between the darkness.” 

Genesis 1:3-4

What God proceeded to do was to create structure and order and hence boundaries began to exist.

This “separation” between the light and between the darkness is the first instance of structure, order and boundaries being created by God. If we read this too fast, we would misread it as separation between light and darkness. But really, if you gave it a closer look, it was actually a separation made between light itself and darkness itself. This tells us that each boundary has its distinctive feature and purpose.

It would not be difficult to imagine what any situation would be like if there were no structure and order put in place; we would be in chaos not knowing where boundaries start or end.

In the physical world, without man setting things in order with purposeful intention, gardens would become an overgrown mess and buildings would become dilapidated ruins. This applies to the spiritual aspects of our lives too.

In a family, where Christ is the Head of the man and man is the head of the family, with the woman as his counterpart, children can have a clear framework of authority to follow. Thus requiring children to obey their parents is in sync with the ideal structure and order.

For a company to run in an orderly manner, each employee must recognise their role and responsibility to complete their tasks timely. Each of these tasks actually add up to form the order and structure of business operations. Any disruption or delay may result in detrimental monetary consequences.

And thus we see, within the structure and order set by God in nature, in families and in work, boundaries exist everywhere to differentiate what is ideal and what is not; requiring us to incrementally make choices to reach an acceptable and beneficial point in relation to ourselves and to others.