When the Lord brings us limits, he’s simultaneously doing relational formation. He’s not merely exposing our lack of holiness. He’s revealing the areas where we least trust him; where we least love and treasure him. Limits are not a call to look inward and get at the work of self-transformation. They are a call to look up and enter into a process of change with the God of the universe.

Back in May, while performing heroic deeds on the rec league soccer field, my wife heard a distinct, “pop,” followed by discomfort in her right knee. Our hope was she’d just done a simple sprain. But the MRI a couple weeks later squashed those hopes. So a month ago, we stumbled up the steps of our home as best we could with Samantha’s knee in a brace and crutches for support following a successful ACL and meniscus surgery.

While we are grateful for how well the surgery went, our family is currently navigating what I would describe as a “season of limits.”

My wife, who is perhaps the most ambitious, project-oriented extrovert I know, is having to face the limits of immobility. No stairs. No inclines. No driving. There are lots of “no”s for someone who likes to say, “yes.” Surgery and recovery are hard. For my wife, having to slow life’s pace is even harder.

My four kiddos, meanwhile, are facing the limits of a less-available-to-help momma. Each one of them inevitably has some additional responsibilities. They’re having to do some things alone that they are used to my wife helping with. And it’s not just extra work – it’s a limit on play. During the day, my wife cannot take them on bike rides or go out for a walk; she can’t drive them to a playground; she can’t join them in their backyard soccer games or practice bicycle kicks with them, etc. None of those things are options right now, which is very different from what our kids are used to.

And me? Well, in my pride, when we first learned Samantha would be facing the long road of surgery recovery, I thought how difficult it would be for her to face these kinds of limits. But it didn’t take long for me to realize I was going to have a pretty hard time with all of this myself. Where my wife is a project-oriented extrovert, I am a book-oriented introvert. I enjoy life at a slower pace. And while my kids have done an overall fantastic job of stepping up to help, inevitably there are more things for me to do around the house than I’m used to. I’ve learned, for instance, that there are multiple settings on a dryer. As I write these words, I’m aware of a pile of dishes sitting on the counter that I need to get to before I head into work. I’ve thrown more private pity-parties in the past month than I care to admit.

Limits are painful.

But even so, here’s what I also know to be true – limits are God’s gift. This is why I love the wide open nature of James 1:2.

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