Stepping out of the box

Ah, life is so comfortable in the box.  I have my pictures on the wall. I have my food ready to eat.  I've got people around me who I love and who love me back. I have my toys and my pet.  It is all right here- neatly inside my box.
Truth is, I really don't want to leave my box.  If I dare to step outside the box, the wind might blow and my pictures might get tilted. I might accidentally bring in some unwanted leaves from outside.  Food might get a little scarcer and I- well I have just enough.

The box.  We all love the box.  Our own private little world where we hang everything just so and dare anyone to knock it off kilter.
I loved my little box too.

It was
comfortable,
cute,
manageable.

Who in the world would want to go shaking the contents of that box or turning it over on it's side.

Not me.

But then one day, I dared to step outside the box.  I dared to open the door, peer out, and look to see

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

things that were hidden when I stayed in my comfortable box.  I opened the window and let a little breeze in.  I left the door open for a few minutes longer and stared.  I eased my way out on to the porch and I looked around and I thought to myself, "maybe there is more I could do with my box."
Now I'm not saying we dispense of the box altogether.  Not at all.  I am however, suggesting that we take the time to look around a little.  We leave, just for a moment, the well placed world we live in, and breath in a few breaths from outside the box.  Go ahead.  Suck in the air a little.  Hmmm...it is not so polluted after all!  Didn't even get choked up!

I talk to people everyday who love their "box" so much, they are afraid to walk outside it.  The view they have is limited to their clean, white walls and they are terrified to allow the color of the outside in. I shutter to think what would have happened if we had not flung the door wide open and taken a gander at the children standing right outside our door.  They were not the neighborhood kids who could quickly scamper back to their own nests.

No.
They were...

Children who were yearning to be invited inside.
Children who prayed that someone would open the door.
Children who would have almost begged to have a place at the table.
Children who needed to be included in the "box".

Photo by Helena Sollie on Unsplash

The truth is, our boxes have secrets.  Our boxes can expand and we didn't even realize it!  Not only is there more love, room, food, clothing, and "stuff" than we ever thought possible, but,  there is one quality about love that leaves you shaking your head in disbelief:  Love always multiplies, never subtracts.  Don't you remember having your second child and wondering if you could possibly love the new baby like you did your first?  And then, suddenly that second child comes and the love was there...in abundance.  The miracle in this?   Nothing was taken away from child number one. Nothing.  The truth is, it might have even grown. 

Love multiplies.

Boxes...or houses make new rooms

Families set another place at the table.

Children have a home.





Seems so simple. It really doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

Open your door.
Walk out on the porch of your box.
Take a look. A long, deep look and breath in the air.

Children are waiting for their invitation.

Every wound healed.  Every child, a home.