Quotes about Boundaries

Even if you're a giver who likes to give, it's exhausting being married to a taker. A taker will suck the life out of you in many ways, and in one sense undercut your ability to minister to others.

We can assume that when the Bible teaches submission, God knew full well that wives would have to watch their husbands fail and make mistakes. Thankfully, this verse also presents some boundaries. If you submit "out of reverence for Christ," you are never obligated — ever — to do anything that would offend Christ.

Chapter 8 explores Jesus' famous passage where he warns us not to throw pearls to pigs. Chapter 9 looks at the difference between labeling and name-calling; if it seems harsh to you to call someone "toxic," you'll find this chapter particularly helpful.

If you have an extra shirt to give to a toxic person, be kind. If you can give to a difficult individual without taking time away from a reliable individual, go for it. But if your investment of time and money keeps you from fulfilling your ministry and fighting your own battles, including investing in other reliable people, it's time to reevaluate. It's time to say no—even to your children.

As it pertains to you and me, let's admit we can't reach everyone, so let's invest our time in the reliable people we can reach. Find out who is toxic to you, consider walking away, and entrust them to God.

If you haven't talked about it to your partner, you have no business talking about it to someone else, unless it's a particularly touchy issue and you're seeking godly wisdom as to how to share it or broach the topic.

Once you've lost your privacy, you realize you've lost an extremely valuable thing.

Never, and I mean never, allow anyone else's ideas of who you can or can't become sully your dream or pollute your imagination. This is your territory, and a 'Keep Out' sign is a great thing to erect at all entrances to your imagination.

One of the things I realized is that if you do not take control over your time and your life, other people will gobble it up. If you don't prioritize yourself, you constantly start falling lower and lower on your list, your kids fall lower and lower on your list.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.

If I say that I love you but I do want personal time, or if I don't want to do PDA, it's not that I have something against you.

Don't invite me if you don't want me.