As I sit here now and reflect on how many times I have crossed the electric fence and how many lessons I have learned, I often feel called to participate in the opposite extreme. See, there was a reason two dogs appeared in this story - they were the direct opposite of one another, in attitude, thought process, and mannerisms. But, neither set of complete characteristics is all together more valuable or needed over the other. The first dog and the second dog have their own set of faults, their own set of flaws. As we naturally do, we will desire the opposite characteristic over our own because we think those have better or different results. How wrong and foolish we are to seek our opposite when we ourselves know what we do to be imperfect.
The biggest lesson this story carried upon my heart was my need to balance in my life; I lack it. I fall into one extreme, try to escape it, and only find myself leaning towards the other extreme. When I look at the electric fence, I think boundary; I think confining; I think restricting; I think destroy it. But guess what? That boundary is not there for me to shrink from or for me to cross immediately. The boundary is the place I should aim to stand at.
It is the place where God's standards lie. It is the place where only those who are willing to totally give their lives and pursuits to Him would be willing to stand in the fiery effects of electricity. It is balance because God takes riskiness and cowardliness and combines them to form resolve and wisdom. It is balance because God takes complete openness and complete closed mindedness and combines them to form a sense of loyalty and loving attitude. It is balance because God takes details and dreams and combines them to form faith and trust in Him. It is balance because God takes a positive outlook and a realistic outlook and combines them to form judgement and success.
God is not provoking us to become the opposite of ourselves. Rather, He is moving in our hearts to meet Him in the middle, where His ultimate and all powerful and everlasting truths lie. The fence is not to keep us back or make us run past it; it is there for us to stand in the middle of it. And only One has ever done it, Jesus Christ Himself. Thus, as I conclude this series of thoughts, I invite each and every one of you to dare to stand in the middle with Him, to dare to let Him move you there, to dare to let go of your desire for the opposite side, to dare to love Him so much that you will endure the fiery of the electricity, and to dare to find the perfect balance, only found within His word, His standards, and His promises.
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